OP  THE 
UNIVERSITY 


THE  HISTORIC 

SERIES  FOR 
YOUNG  PEOPLE 


THE  HISTORIC 

SERIES  FOR 
YOUNG  PEOPLE 


Historic  Adventures 

Tales  from  American  History 


By 
RUPERT  S.  HOLLAND 

Author  of  "Historic  Boyhoods,"  "Historic  Girlhoods" 
"Historic  Inventions"  etc. 


PHILADELPHIA 
GEORGE  W.  JACOBS  &  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1913,  by 

GEORGE  W.  JACOBS  &  COMPANY 

Published  October,  1913 


All  rights  reserved 
Printed  in  U.S.  A. 


To 
Robert  D.  "Jenks 


M668778 


n* 

.5 


Contents 

I.     THE  LOST  CHILDREN         ....  9 

II.     THE  GREAT  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK  21 

III.  THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON  BURR       .         .  59 

IV.  How  THE  YOUNG  REPUBLIC  FOUGHT  THE 

BARBARY  PIRATES         ....  80 

V.     THE  FATE  OF  LOVEJOY'S  PRINTING-PRESS    .  113 

VI.     How  MARCUS  WHITMAN  SAVED  OREGON     .  135 

VII.     How  THE  MORMONS  CAME  TO  SETTLE  UTAH  165 

VIII.     THE  GOLDEN  DAYS  OF  TORTY-NINE    .         .181 

IX.     How  THE  UNITED  STATES  MADE  FRIENDS 

WITH  JAPAN 203 

X.     THE  PIG  THAT  ALMOST  CAUSED  A  WAR       .  222 

XL     JOHN  BROWN  AT  HARPER'S  FERRY       .        .  229 

XII.     AN  ARCTIC  EXPLORER        ....  254 

XIII.  THE  STORY  OF  ALASKA       ....  264 

XIV.  How  THE  "  MERRIMAC  "  WAS  SUNK  IN  SAN 

TIAGO  HARBOR 275 


Illustrations 

Shooting    tongues   of  smoke    from    their  great   black 

throats  .......   Frontispiece 

Sawquehanna  seemed  to  remember  the  voice     .  Facing  page  1 8 

Decatur  caught  the  Moor's  arm       ...****  90 

The  last  six  hundred  miles  were  the  hardest     .     "         "  152 

Nauvoo    had     handsome     houses    and    public 

buildings •«         "  166 

Wherever  there  was  a  stream  explorers  began 

to  dig «         «  1 86 

The  teams,  exhausted,  began  to  fail          .          .     «*          "  200 

Spanish  boats  pulled  close  to  them  .          .               "          "  282 


THE  LOST  CHILDREN 

THE  valleys  of  Pennsylvania  were  dotted  with  log 
cabins  in  the  days  of  the  French  and  Indian  wars. 
Sometimes  a  number  of  the  little  houses  stood  close 
together  for  protection,  but  often  they  were  built  far 
apart.  Wherever  the  pioneer  saw  good  farm  land 
he  settled.  It  was  a  new  sensation  for  men  to  be 
able  to  go  into  the  country  and  take  whatever  land 
attracted  them.  Gentle  rolling  fields,  with  wide 
views  of  distant  country  through  the  notches  of  the 
hills,  shining  rivers,  splendid  uncut  forests,  and  rich 
pasturage  were  to  be  found  not  far  from  the  grow 
ing  village  of  Philadelphia,  and  were  free  to  any  who 
wished  to  take  them.  Such  a  land  would  have  been 
a  paradise,  but  for  one  shadow  that  hung  over  it. 
In  the  background  always  lurked  the  Indians,  who 
might  at  any  time,  without  rhyme  or  reason,  steal 
down  upon  the  lonely  hamlet  or  cabin,  and  lay  it 
waste.  The  pioneer  looked  across  the  broad  acres 
of  central  Pennsylvania  and  found  them  beautiful. 
Only  when  he  had  built  his  home  and  planted  his 
fields  did  he  fully  realize  the  constant  peril  that 
lurked  in  the  wooded  mountains. 

English,  French,  and   Spanish  came  to  the  new 


io  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

world,  and  the  English  proved  themselves  the  best 
colonists.  They  settled  the  central  part  of  the  At 
lantic  Coast,  but  among  them  and  mixed  with  them 
were  people  of  other  lands.  The  Dutch  took  a  liking 
for  the  Island  of  Manhattan  and  the  Hudson  River, 
the  Swedes  for  Delaware,  and  into  the  colony  of 
William  Penn  came  pilgrims  from  what  was  called 
the  Palatinate,  Germans,  a  strong  race  drawn  partly 
by  desire  for  religious  freedom,  partly  by  the  reports 
of  the  great  free  lands  across  the  ocean.  They 
brought  with  them  the  tongue,  the  customs,  and  the 
names  of  the  German  Fatherland,  and  many  a  valley 
of  eastern  Pennsylvania  heard  only  the  German  lan 
guage  spoken. 

The  Indian  tribes  known  as  the  Six  Nations 
roamed  through  the  country  watered  by  the  Susque- 
hanna.  They  hunted  through  all  the  land  south  of 
the  Great  Lakes.  Sometimes  they  fought  with  the 
Delawares,  sometimes  with  the  Catawbas,  and  again 
they  would  smoke  the  calumet  or  pipe  of  peace  with 
their  neighbors,  and  give  up  the  war-path  for  months 
at  a  time.  But  the  settlers  could  never  be  sure  of 
their  intentions.  Wily  French  agents  might  sow 
seeds  of  discord  in  the  Indians'  minds,  and  then  the 
chiefs  who  had  lately  exchanged  gifts  with  the  set 
tlers  might  suddenly  steal  upon  some  quiet  village 
and  leave  the  place  in  ruins.  This  constant  peril 
was  the  price  men  had  to  pay  in  return  for  the  right 
to  take  whatever  land  they  liked. 

In  a  little  valley  of  eastern  Pennsylvania  a  Ger- 


THE  LOST  CHILDREN  n 

man  settler  named  John  Hartman  had  built  a  cabin 
in  1754.  He  had  come  to  this  place  with  his  wife 
and  four  children  because  here  he  might  earn  a  good 
living  from  the  land.  He  was  a  hard  worker,  and 
his  farm  was  prospering.  He  had  horses  and  cattle, 
and  his  wife  spun  and  wove  the  clothing  for  the 
family.  The  four  children,  George,  Barbara,  Regina, 
and  Christian,  looked  upon  the  valley  as  their  home, 
forgetting  the  German  village  over  the  sea.  Not  far 
away  lived  neighbors,  and  sometimes  the  children 
went  to  play  with  other  boys  and  girls,  and  some 
times  their  friends  spent  a  holiday  on  John  Hart- 
man's  farm. 

The  family,  like  all  farmers'  families,  rose  early. 
Before  they  began  the  day's  work  the  father  would 
read  to  them  from  his  big  Bible,  which  he  had 
brought  from  his  native  land  as  his  most  valuable 
possession.  On  a  bright  morning  in  the  autumn  of 
1754  he  gathered  his  family  in  the  living-room  of  his 
cabin  and  read  them  a  Bible  lesson.  The  doors  and 
windows  stood  open,  and  the  sun  flooded  the  little 
house,  built  of  rough  boards,  and  scrupulously  clean. 
The  farmer's  dog,  Wasser,  lay  curled  up  asleep 
just  outside  the  front  door,  and  a  pair  of  horses,  al 
ready  harnessed,  stood  waiting  to  be  driven  to  the 
field.  Birds  singing  in  the  trees  called  to  the  chil 
dren  to  hurry  out-of-doors.  They  tried  to  listen  to 
their  father's  voice  as  he  read,  and  to  pay  atten 
tion.  As  they  all  knelt  he  prayed  for  their  safety. 
Then  they  had  breakfast,  and  the  father  and  mother 


12  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

made  plans  for  the  day.  Mrs.  Hartman  was  to 
take  the  younger  boy,  Christian,  to  the  flour-mill 
several  miles  away,  and  if  they  had  time  was  to  call 
at  the  cabin  of  a  sick  friend.  The  father  and  George 
went  to  the  field  to  finish  their  sowing  before  the 
autumn  rains  should  come,  and  the  two  little  girls 
were  told  to  look  after  the  house  till  their  mother 
should  return.  Little  Christian  sat  upon  an  old 
horse,  held  on  by  his  mother,  and  waved  his  hand 
to  his  father  and  George  as  he  rode  by  the  field  on 
his  way  to  the  mill. 

The  girls,  like  their  mother,  were  good  house 
keepers.  They  set  the  table  for  dinner,  and  at  noon 
Barbara  blew  the  big  tin  horn  to  call  her  father  and 
brother.  As  they  were  eating  dinner  the  dog 
Wasser  came  running  into  the  house  growling,  and 
acting  as  if  he  were  very  much  frightened.  Mr. 
Hartman  spoke  to  him,  and  called  him  to  his  side. 
But  the  dog  stood  in  the  doorway,  and  then  suddenly 
leaped  forward  and  sprang  upon  an  Indian  who  came 
around  the  wall. 

The  peril  that  lurked  in  the  woods  had  come. 
John  Hartman  jumped  to  the  door,  but  two  rifle 
bullets  struck  him  down.  George  sprang  up,  only 
to  fall  beside  his  father.  An  Indian  killed  the  dog 
with  his  tomahawk.  Into  the  peaceful  cabin 
swarmed  fifteen  yelling  savages.  Barbara  ran  up  a 
ladder  into  the  loft,  and  Regina  fell  on  her  knees, 
murmuring  "  Herr  Jesus  !  Herr  Jesus  !  "  The  In 
dians  hesitated,  then  one  of  them  seized  her,  and 


THE  LOST  CHILDREN  13 

made  a  motion  with  his  knife  across  her  lips  to  bid 
her  be  silent.  Another  went  after  Barbara  and 
brought  her  down  from  the  loft,  and  then  the  Indians 
ordered  the  two  girls  to  put  on  the  table  all  the  food 
there  was  in  the  cabin. 

When  the  food  was  gone  the  savages  plundered 
the  house,  making  bundles  of  what  they  wanted  and 
slinging  them  over  their  shoulders.  They  took  the 
two  little  girls  into  the  field.  There  another  girl 
stood  tied  to  the  fence.  When  she  saw  Barbara  and 
Regina  she  began  to  cry,  and  called  in  German  for 
her  mother.  While  the  three  frightened  girls  stood 
close  together  the  Indians  set  fire  to  the  cabin. 
Very  soon  the  log  house  that  had  cost  John  Hart- 
man  so  much  labor  was  burned  to  the  ground. 
When  their  work  of  destruction  was  completed  the 
Indians  took  the  three  children  into  the  woods. 

At  sunset  Mrs.  Hartman  returned  from  the  flour- 
mill  with  little  Christian  riding  his  horse,  but  when 
she  came  up  the  road  it  seemed  as  if  her  house  had 
disappeared.  Yet  the  pine  trees,  the  fences,  the 
plowed  fields,  and  the  orchard  were  still  there.  The 
little  boy  cried,  "Where  is  our  house,  mother?"  and 
the  poor  woman  could  not  understand. 

The  story  of  what  had  occurred  was  only  too 
plain  to  her  a  few  minutes  later.  What  had  hap 
pened  to  many  other  pioneers  had  happened  to  her 
family.  Clutching  Christian  in  her  arms  she  ran  to 
the  house  of  her  nearest  neighbor.  There  she  heard 
that  the  Indians  had  left  the  same  track  of  blood 


I4  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

through  other  parts  of  the  valley ;  that  farmers  had 
been  slain  ;  their  crops  burned ;  and  their  children 
carried  off  into  the  wilderness.  The  terrified  settlers 
banded  together  for  protection.  For  weeks  new 
stories  came  of  the  Indians'  massacres.  If  ever 
there  were  heartless  savages  these  were  !  They  did 
not  carry  all  the  children  to  their  wigwams  ;  some 
were  killed  on  the  way  ;  and  among  them  was  little 
Barbara  Hartman.  Word  came  from  time  to  time 
of  some  of  the  stolen  children,  but  there  was  no 
word  of  Regina  or  Susan  Smith,  the  daughter  of  the 
neighboring  farmer. 

Far  in  the  forests  of  western  New  York  was  the 
camp  of  a  great  Indian  tribe.  The  wigwams  stood 
on  the  banks  of  a  beautiful  mountain  stream,  broken 
by  great  rocks  that  sent  the  water  leaping  in  cas 
cades  and  falls.  In  one  of  the  wigwams  lived  the 
mother  of  a  famous  warrior  of  the  tribe,  and  with  her 
were  two  girls  whom  she  treated  as  her  daughters. 
The  name  of  the  old  squaw  was  She-lack-la,  which 
meant  "  the  Dark  and  Rainy  Cloud,"  a  name  given 
her  because  at  times  she  grew  very  angry  and  ill- 
treated  every  one  around  her.  Fortunately  there 
were  two  girls  in  her  wigwam,  and  when  the  old 
squaw  was  in  a  bad  temper  they  had  each  other  for 
protection.  The  older  girl  had  been  given  the  name 
of  Saw-que-han-na,  or  "  the  White  Lily,"  and  the 
other  was  known  as  Kno-los-ka,  "  the  Short-legged 
Bear."  Like  all  the  Indian  girls  they  had  to  work 


THE  LOST  CHILDREN  15 

hard,  grinding  corn,  cooking  and  keeping  house  for 
the  boys  and  men  who  were  brought  up  to  hunt  and 
fight.  Sawquehanna  was  tall  and  strong,  spoke  the 
language  of  the  tribe,  and  looked  very  much  like  her 
Indian  girl  friends. 

In  the  meantime  many  battles  had  been  fought 
through  the  country  of  the  pioneers,  and  the  English 
colonists  were  beating  the  French  and  Indians,  and 
driving  the  Frenchmen  farther  and  farther  north. 
In  1765  the  long  war  between  the  two  nations 
ended.  Under  a  treaty  of  peace  the  English  Colonel 
Boquet  demanded  that  all  the  white  children  who 
had  been  captured  by  the  Indian  tribes  should  be 
surrendered  to  the  English  officers.  So  one  day 
white  soldiers  came  into  the  woods  of  western  New 
York  and  found  the  wigwams  there.  The  children 
were  called  out,  and  the  soldiers  took  the  two  girls 
from  the  old  squaw  Shelackla.  Then  they  went  on 
to  the  other  tribes,  and  from  each  they  took  all  the 
white  children.  They  carried  them  to  Fort  Duquesne. 
The  Fort  was  in  western  Pennsylvania,  and  as  soon 
as  it  was  known  that  the  lost  white  children  were 
there,  fathers  and  mothers  all  over  the  country  hur 
ried  to  find  their  boys  and  girls.  Many  of  the  chil 
dren  had  been  away  so  long  that  they  hardly  remem 
bered  their  parents,  but  most  of  the  parents  knew 
their  children,  and  found  them  again  within  the 
walls  of  the  fortress. 

Some  of  the  children,  however,  were  not  claimed. 
Sawquehanna  and  her  friend  Knoloska  and  nearly 


1 6  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

fifty  more  found  no  one  looking  for  them  and 
wondered  what  would  happen  to  them.  After  they 
had  waited  at  Fort  Duquesne  eight  days,  Colonel 
Boquet  started  to  march  with  his  band  of  children  to 
the  town  of  Carlisle,  in  hopes  that  they  might  find 
friends  farther  east,  or  at  least  kind-hearted  people 
who  would  give  the  children  homes.  He  sent  news 
of  their  march  all  through  the  country,  and  from  day 
to  day  as  they  traveled  through  the  mountains  by 
way  of  Fort  Ligonier,  Raystown,  and  Louden,  eager 
people  arrived  to  search  among  the  band  of  children 
for  lost  sons  and  daughters.  When  the  children 
came  to  Carlisle  the  town  was  filled  with  settlers 
from  the  East. 

The  children  stood  in  the  market-place,  and  the 
men  and  women  pressed  about  them,  trying  to 
recognize  little  ones  who  had  been  carried  away  by 
Indians  years  before.  Some  people  who  lived  in 
the  Blue  Mountains  were  in  the  throng,  and  they 
recognized  the  dark-haired  Indian  girl  Knoloska  as 
Susan,  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Smith,  the  farmer  who  had 
lived  near  the  Hartmans.  Knoloska  and  Sawque- 
hanna  had  not  been  separated  for  a  long  time. 
They  had  kept  together  ever  since  the  white  soldiers 
had  freed  them  from  the  old  squaw's  wigwam. 
Sawquehanna  could  not  bear  to  think  of  having  her 
comrade  leave  her,  and  Susan  clung  to  her  adopted 
sister's  arm  and  kissed  her  again  and  again.  The 
white  people  were  much  kinder  than  the  old  squaw 
had  been,  and  instead  of  beating  the  girls  when  they 


THE  LOST  CHILDREN  17 

cried,  and  frightening  them  with  threats,  the  officers 
told  Sawquehanna  that  she  would  probably  find 
some  friends  soon,  and  if  she  did  not,  that  perhaps 
Susan's  family  would  let  her  live  in  their  home. 
But  as  nobody  seemed  to  recognize  her  Sawque 
hanna  felt  more  lonely  than  she  had  ever  felt  be 
fore. 

Meanwhile  Mrs.  Hartman  was  living  in  the  valley 
with  her  son  Christian,  who  had  grown  to  be  a 
strong  boy  of  fourteen.  Neighbors  told  her  that 
the  lost  children  were  being  brought  across  the 
mountains  to  Carlisle,  but  there  seemed  little  chance 
that  her  own  Regina  might  be  one  of  them.  She 
decided,  however,  that  she  must  go  to  the  town  and 
see.  Travel  was  difficult  in  those  days,  but  the 
brave  woman  set  out  over  the  mountains  and  across 
the  rivers  to  Carlisle,  and  at  last  reached  the  town 
market-place.  She  looked  anxiously  among  the 
girls,  remembering  her  little  daughter  as  she  had 
been  on  that  autumn  day  eleven  years  before ;  but 
none  of  the  girls  had  the  blue  eyes,  light  yellow 
hair  and  red  cheeks  of  Regina.  Mrs.  Hartman 
shook  her  head,  and  decided  that  her  daughter  was 
not  among  these  children. 

As  she  turned  away,  disconsolate,  Colonel  Boquet 
said  to  her,  "  Can't  you  find  your  daughter  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  the  disappointed  mother,  "  my  daugh 
ter  is  not  among  those  children." 

"  Are  you  sure  ?  "  asked  the  colonel.  "  Are  there 
no  marks  by  which  you  might  know  her  ?  " 


1 8  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

"  None,  sir,"  she  answered,  shaking  her  head. 

Colonel  Boquet  considered  the  matter  for  a  few 
minutes.  "  Did  you  ever  sing  to  her  ?  "  he  asked 
presently.  "  Was  there  no  old  hymn  that  she  was 
fond  of  ?  " 

The  mother  looked  up  quickly.  "Yes,  there 
was ! "  she  answered.  "  I  have  often  sung  her  to 
sleep  in  my  arms  with  an  old  German  hymn  we  all 
loved  so  well." 

"  Then,"  said  the  colonel,  "  you  and  I  will  walk 
along  the  line  of  girls  and  you  shall  sing  that  hymn. 
It  may  be  that  your  daughter  has  changed  so  much 
that  you  wouldn't  know  her,  but  she  may  remember 
the  tune." 

Mrs.  Hartman  looked  very  doubtful.  "  There  is 
little  use  in  it,  sir,"  she  said,  "  for  certainly  I  should 
have  known  her  if  she  were  here ;  and  if  I  try  your 
plan  all  these  soldiers  will  laugh  at  me  for  a  foolish 
old  German  woman." 

The  colonel,  however,  begged  her  at  least  to  try 
his  plan,  and  she  finally  consented.  They  walked 
back  to  the  place  where  the  children  were  standing, 
and  Mrs.  Hartman  began  to  sing  in  a  trembling 
voice  the  first  words  of  the  old  hymn : 


Alone,  and  yet  not  all  alone,  am  I 
In  this  lone  wilderness." 


As  she  went  on  singing  every  one  stopped  talking 
and  turned  to  look   at   her.     The   woman's    hands 


SAWQUEHANNA  SEEMED  TO  REMEMBER  THE  VOICE 


THE  LOST  CHILDREN  19 

were  clasped  as  if  in  prayer,  and  her  eyes  were 
closed.  The  sun  shone  full  upon  her  white  hair  and 
upturned  face.  There  was  something  very  beautiful 
in  the  picture  she  made,  and  there  was  silence  in  the 
market-place  as  her  gentle  voice  went  on  through 
the  words  of  the  hymn. 

The  mother  had  begun  the  second  verse  when 
one  of  the  children  gave  a  cry.  It  was  Sawque- 
hanna,  who  seemed  suddenly  to  have  remembered 
the  voice  and  words.  She  rushed  forward,  and 
flung  her  arms  about  the  mother's  neck,  crying, 
"  Mother,  mother !  "  Then,  with  her  arms  tight 
about  her,  the  tall  girl  joined  in  singing  the  words 
that  had  lulled  her  to  sleep  in  their  cabin  home. 


Alone,  and  yet  not  all  alone,  am  I 

In  this  lone  wilderness, 
I  feel  my  Saviour  always  nigh ; 

He  comes  the  weary  hours  to  bless. 
I  am  with  Him,  and  He  with  me, 

E'en  here  alone  I  cannot  be." 


The  people  in  the  market-place  moved  on  about 
their  own  affairs,  and  the  mother  and  daughter  were 
left  together.  Now  Mrs.  Hartman  recognized  the 
blue  eyes  of  Regina,  and  knew  her  daughter  in 
spite  of  her  height  and  dark  skin.  Regina  began 
to  remember  the  days  of  her  childhood,  and  the 
years  she  had  spent  among  the  Indians  were  forgot 
ten.  She  was  a  white  girl  again,  and  happier  now 
than  she  had  ever  thought  to  be. 


20  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

Next  day  Knoloska,  now  Susan  Smith,  and  Saw- 
quehanna,  or  Regina  Hartman,  went  back  to  their 
homes  in  the  valley.  Many  a  settler  there  had 
found  his  son  or  daughter  in  the  crowd  of  lost 
children  at  Carlisle. 


II 

THE  GREAT  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND 
CLARK 

FRENCH  is  still  spoken  in  Quebec  and  New  Or 
leans,  reminders  that  the  land  of  the  lilies  had  much 
to  do  with  the  settlement  of  North  America.  Many 
of  the  greatest  explorers  of  the  continent  were  French 
men.  Jacques  Cartier  sailed  up  the  St.  Lawrence 
River  in  1534,  and  Champlain  in  1603  founded  New 
France,  and  from  his  small  fortress  at  Quebec 
planned  an  empire  that  should  reach  to  Florida.  In 
1666  Robert  Cavalier,  the  Sieur  de  La  Salle,  came  to 
Canada,  and  set  out  from  his  seigueurie  near  the 
rapids  of  Montreal  to  find  the  long-sought  road  to 
China.  Instead  of  doing  that  he  discovered  the 
Ohio  River,  first  of  white  men  he  voyaged  across  the 
Great  Lakes  and  sailed  down  the  Mississippi  to  its 
mouth.  Great  explorer,  he  mapped  the  country 
from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  from 
the  Mississippi  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  built  fron 
tier-posts  in  the  wilderness.  He  traveled  thousands 
of  miles,  and  in  1682  he  raised  the  lilies  of  France 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  and  named  the 
whole  territory  he  had  covered  Louisiana,  in  honor 
of  King  Louis  XIV  of  France. 


22  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

The  first  colony  on  the  Gulf  was  established  seven 
teen  years  later  at  Biloxi  by  a  Canadian  seigneur 
named  Iberville.  Soon  afterward  this  seigneur's 
brother,  Bienville,  founded  New  Orleans  and  attracted 
many  French  pioneers  there.  The  French  proved  to 
be  better  explorers  than  farmers  or  settlers.  In  the 
south  they  hunted  the  sources  of  the  Arkansas  and 
Red  Rivers,  and  discovered  the  little-known  Pawnee 
and  Comanche  Indians.  In  the  north  they  pressed 
westward  and  came  in  sight  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
At  that  time  it  seemed  as  if  France  was  to  own  at 
least  two-thirds  of  the  continent.  The  English  gen 
eral,  Braddock,  was  defeated  at  Fort  Duquesne  in 
1755,  and  the  French  commanded  the  Ohio  as  well 
as  the  Mississippi ;  but  four  years  later  the  English 
general,  Wolfe,  won  the  victory  of  the  Plains  of 
Abraham  near  Quebec  ;  and  France's  chance  was 
over.  Men  in  Paris  who  knew  little  concerning  the 
new  world  did  not  scruple  to  give  away  their  coun 
try's  title  to  vast  lands.  The  French  ceded  Canada 
and  all  of  La  Salle's  old  province  of  Louisiana  east 
of  the  Mississippi,  except  New  Orleans,  to  England. 
Soon  afterward  France,  to  outwit  England,  gave 
Spain  New  Orleans  and  her  claim  to  the  half  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley  west  of  the  river  to  which  the 
name  Louisiana  now  came  to  be  restricted. 

The  French,  however,  were  great  adventurers  by 
nature,  and  Napoleon,  changing  the  map  of  Europe, 
could  not  keep  his  ringers  from  North  America.  He 
planned  to  win  back  the  New  France  that  had  been 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK     23 

given  away.  Spain  was  weak,  and  Napoleon  traded 
a  small  province  in  Italy  for  the  great  tract  of  Louisi 
ana.  He  meant  to  colonize  and  fortify  this  splendid 
empire,  but  before  it  could  be  done  enemies  gathered 
against  his  eagles  at  home,  and  to  save  his  European 
throne  he  had  to  forsake  his  western  colony. 

When  Thomas  Jefferson  became  President  in  1801, 
he  found  the  people  of  the  South  and  West  disturbed 
at  France's  repossessing  herself  of  so  much  territory. 
He  sent  Robert  R.  Livingston  and  James  Monroe  to 
Paris  to  try  to  buy  New  Orleans  and  the  country 
known  as  the  Floridas  for  $2,000,000.  Instead  Na 
poleon  offered  to  sell  not  only  New  Orleans,  but  the 
whole  of  Louisiana  Territory  extending  as  far  west 
as  the  Rocky  Mountains  for  $15,000,000.  Napoleon 
insisted  on  the  sale,  and  the  envoys  agreed.  Jeffer 
son  and  the  people  in  the  eastern  United  States  were 
dismayed  at  the  price  paid  for  what  they  considered 
almost  worthless  land,  but  the  West  was  delighted, 
owning  the  mouth  of  the  great  Mississippi  and  with 
the  country  beyond  it  free  to  them  to  explore.  In 
time  this  purchase  of  Louisiana,  or  the  territory 
stretching  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  forming  the 
larger  part  of  what  are  now  thirteen  of  the  states  of 
the  Union,  was  to  be  considered  one  of  the  greatest 
pieces  of  good  fortune  in  the  country's  history. 

Scarcely  anything  was  known  of  Louisiana,  except 
the  stories  told  by  a  few  hunters.  Jefferson  decided 
that  the  region  must  be  explored,  and  asked  his 
young  secretary,  Meriwether  Lewis,  who  had  shown 


24  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

great  interest  in  the  new  country,  to  make  a  path 
through  the  wilderness.  Lewis  chose  his  friend 
William  Clark  to  accompany  him,  and  picked  thirty- 
two  experienced  men  for  their  party.  May  14,  1804, 
the  expedition  set  out  in  a  barge  with  sails  and  two 
smaller  boats  from  a  point  on  the  Missouri  River 
near  St.  Louis. 

The  nearer  part  of  this  country  had  already  been 
well  explored  by  hunters  and  trappers,  and  especially 
by  that  race  of  adventurous  Frenchmen  who  were 
rovers  by  nature.  These  men  could  not  endure  the 
confining  life  of  towns,  and  were  continually  pushing 
into  the  wilderness,  driving  their  light  canoes  over 
the  waters  of  the  great  rivers,  and  often  sharing  the 
tents  of  friendly  Indians  they  met.  Many  had  become 
almost  more  Indian  than  white  man, — had  married 
Indian  wives  and  lived  the  wandering  life  of  the  na 
tive.  Such  a  man  Captain  Lewis  found  at  the  start 
of  his  journey,  and  took  with  him  to  act  as  inter 
preter  among  the  Sioux  and  tribes  who  spoke  a  sim 
ilar  language. 

The  party  traveled  rapidly  at  the  outset  of  their 
journey,  meeting  small  bands  of  Indians,  and  passing 
one  or  two  widely-separated  frontier  settlements. 
They  had  to  pass  many  difficult  rapids  in  the  river, 
but  as  they  were  for  the  most  part  expert  boatmen 
they  met  with  no  mishaps.  The  last  white  town  on 
the  Missouri  was  a  little  hamlet  called  La  Charrette, 
consisting  of  seven  houses,  with  as  many  families 
located  there  to  hunt  and  trade  for  skins  and  furs. 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK     25 

As  they  went  up  the  river  they  frequently  met  canoes 
loaded  with  furs  coming  down.  Day  by  day  they  took 
careful  observations,  and  made  maps  of  the  country 
through  which  they  were  traveling,  and  when  they 
met  Indians  tried  to  learn  the  history  and  customs  of 
the  tribe.  Captain  Lewis  wrote  down  many  of  their 
curious  traditions.  The  Osage  tribe  had  given  their 
name  to  a  river  that  flowed  into  the  Missouri  a  little 
more  than  a  hundred  miles  from  its  mouth.  There 
were  three  tribes  of  this  nation  :  the  Great  Osages, 
numbering  about  five  hundred  warriors  ;  the  Little 
Osages,  who  lived  some  six  miles  distant  from  the 
others,  and  numbered  half  as  many  men ;  and  the 
Arkansas  band,  six  hundred  strong,  who  had  left  the 
others  some  time  before,  and  settled  on  the  Vermil- 
lion  River.  The  Osages  lived  in  villages  and  were 
good  farmers,  usually  peaceful,  although  naturally 
strong  and  tireless.  Captain  Lewis  found  a  curious 
tradition  as  to  the  origin  of  their  tribe.  The  story 
was  that  the  founder  of  the  nation  was  a  snail,  who 
lived  quietly  on  the  banks  of  the  Osage  until  a  high 
flood  swept  him  down  to  the  Missouri,  and  left  him 
exposed  on  the  shore.  The  heat  of  the  sun  at  length 
ripened  him  into  a  man,  but  with  the  change  in  his  na 
ture  he  did  not  forget  his  native  haunts  on  the  Osage, 
but  immediately  bent  his  way  in  that  direction.  He 
was,  however,  soon  overtaken  by  hunger  and  fatigue, 
when  happily  the  Great  Spirit  appeared,  and  giving 
him  a  bow  and  arrow  showed  him  how  to  kill  and 
cook  deer,  and  cover  himself  with  the  skins.  He 


26  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

then  pushed  on  to  his  home,  but  as  he  neared  it 
he  was  met  by  a  beaver,  who  inquired  haughtily  who 
he  was,  and  by  what  authority  he  came  to  disturb 
his  possession.  The  Osage  answered  that  the  river 
was  his  own,  for  he  had  once  lived  on  its  borders. 
As  they  stood  disputing,  the  daughter  of  the  beaver 
came,  and  having  by  her  entreaties  made  peace  be 
tween  her  father  and  the  young  stranger,  it  was  pro 
posed  that  the  Osage  should  marry  the  young 
beaver,  and  share  the  banks  of  the  river  with  her 
family.  The  Osage  readily  consented,  and  from  this 
happy  marriage  there  came  the  village  and  the  na 
tion  of  the  Wasbasha,  or  Osages,  who  kept  a  rever 
ence  for  their  ancestors,  never  hunting  the  beaver, 
because  in  killing  that  animal  they  would  kill  a 
brother  of  the  Osage.  The  explorers  found,  how 
ever,  that  since  the  value  of  beaver  skins  had  risen 
in  trade  with  the  white  men,  these  Indians  were 
not  so  particular  in  their  reverence  for  their  rela 
tives. 

The  mouth  of  the  Platte  River  was  reached  on 
July  2ist,  and  the  next  day  Lewis  held  a  council 
with  the  Ottoes  and  Missouri  Indians,  and  named  the 
site  Council  Bluffs.  At  each  of  these  meetings  be 
tween  Lewis  and  the  Indians  the  white  man  would 
explain  thslt  this  territory  was  now  part  of  the  United 
States,  would  urge  the  tribes  to  trade  with  their  new 
neighbors,  and  then  present  them  with  gifts  of 
medals,  necklaces,  rings,  tobacco,  ornaments  of  all 
sorts,  and  often  powder  and  arms. 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK     27 

The  Indians  were  friendly  and  each  day  taught 
the  white  men  something  new.  Both  Captain  Lewis 
and  Lieutenant  Clark  had  seen  much  of  the  red 
men  on  the  frontier,  but  now  they  were  in  a  land 
where  they  found  them  in  their  own  homes.  They 
grew  accustomed  to  the  round  tepees  decorated 
with  bright-colored  skins,  the  necklaces  made  of 
claws  of  grizzly  bears,  the  head-dresses  of  eagle 
feathers,  the  tambourines,  or  small  drums  that  fur 
nished  most  of  their  music,  the  whip-rattles  made  of 
the  hoofs  of  goats  and  deer,  the  white-dressed  buffalo 
robes  painted  with  pictures  that  told  the  history  of 
the  tribe,  the  moccasins  and  tobacco  pouches  em 
broidered  with  many  colored  beads.  Each  tribe  dif 
fered  in  some  way  from  its  neighbors.  For  the  first 
time  the  explorers  found  among  the  Rickarees  eight- 
sided  earth-covered  lodges,  and  basket-shaped  boats 
made  of  interwoven  boughs  covered  with  buffalo 
skins. 

Game  was  plentiful  as  they  went  farther  up  the 
Missouri  River.  At  first  no  buffaloes  were  found, 
but  bands  of  elk  were  seen,  and  large  herds  of  goats 
crossing  from  their  summer  grazing  grounds  in  the 
hilly  region  west  of  the  Missouri  to  their  winter 
quarters.  Besides  these  were  antelopes,  beavers, 
bears,  badgers,  deer,  and  porcupines,  and  the  river 
banks  supplied  them  with  plover,  grouse,  geese, 
turkeys,  ducks,  and  pelicans.  There  were  plenty  of 
wild  fruits  to  be  had,  and  they  lived  well  during  the 
whole  of  the  summer.  They  traveled  rapidly  until 


28  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

the  approach  of  cold  weather  decided  them  to  estab 
lish  winter  quarters  on  October  27th. 

They  pitched  their  camp,  which  they  called  Fort 
Mandan,  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Missouri,  near 
the  present  city  of  Bismarck.  They  built  some 
wooden  huts,  which  formed  two  sides  of  a  triangle, 
and  a  row  of  pickets  on  the  third  side,  to  provide 
them  with  a  stockade  in  case  of  attack.  They  found 
a  trader  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  near  by,  and 
during  the  winter  a  dozen  other  traders  visited  them. 
Although  they  appeared  to  be  friendly,  Captain 
Lewis  was  convinced  that  the  traders  had  no  desire 
to  see  this  United  States  expedition  push  into  the 
country,  and  would  in  fact  do  all  they  could  to 
prevent  its  advance.  The  Indians  in  the  neighbor 
hood  belonged  to  the  tribes  of  the  Mandans, 
Rickarees,  and  Minnetarees.  The  first  two  of  these 
tribes  went  to  war  early  in  the  winter,  but  peace  was 
made  through  the  efforts  of  Captain  Lewis.  After 
that  all  the  Indians  visited  the  encampment,  bringing 
stores  of  corn  and  presents  of  different  sorts,  in 
exchange  for  which  they  obtained  beads,  rings,  and 
cloth  from  the  white  men.  Here  Captain  Lewis 
learned  a  curious  legend  of  the  Mandan  tribe. 
They  believed  that  all  their  nation  originally  lived 
in  one  large  village  underground  near  a  subter 
ranean  lake,  and  that  a  grape-vine  stretched  its  roots 
down  to  their  home  and  gave  them  a  view  of  day 
light.  Some  of  the  more  adventurous  of  the  tribe 
climbed  up  the  vine,  and  were  delighted  with  the 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK     29 

sight  of  the  earth,  which  they  found  covered  with 
buffaloes  and  rich  with  all  kinds  of  fruits.  They 
gathered  some  grapes  and  returned  with  them  to 
their  countrymen,  and  told  them  of  the  charms  of 
the  land  they  had  seen.  The  others  were  very  much 
pleased  with  the  story  and  with  the  grapes,  and 
men,  women  and  children  started  to  climb  up  the 
vine.  But  when  only  half  of  them  had  reached  the 
top  a  heavy  woman  broke  the  vine  by  her  weight, 
and  so  closed  the  road  to  the  rest  of  the  nation. 
Each  member  of  this  tribe  was  accustomed  to  select  a 
particular  object  for  his  devotion,  and  call  it  his 
"  medicine."  To  this  they  would  offer  sacrifices  of 
every  kind.  One  of  the  Indians  said  to  Captain 
Lewis,  "  I  was  lately  the  owner  of  seventeen  horses  ; 
but  I  have  offered  them  all  up  to  my  *  medicine,'  and 
am  now  poor."  He  had  actually  loosed  all  his 
seventeen  horses  on  the  plains,  thinking  that  in  that 
way  he  was  doing  honor  to  his  god. 

Almost  every  day  hunting  parties  left  the  camp 
and  brought  back  buffaloes.  The  weather  grew 
very  cold  in  December,  and  several  times  the  ther 
mometer  fell  to  forty  degrees  below  zero.  As 
spring  advanced,  however,  the  weather  became  very 
mild,  and  as  early  as  April  7,  1805,  they  were  able 
to  leave  their  camp  at  Fort  Manden  and  start  on 
again.  The  upper  Missouri  they  found  was  too 
shallow  for  the  large  barge  they  had  used  the 
previous  summer,  so  this  was  now  sent  back  down  the 
river  in  charge  of  a  party  of  ten  men  who  carried  let- 


30  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

ters  and  specimens,  while  the  others  embarked  in  six 
canoes  and  two  large  open  boats  that  they  had  built 
during  the  winter.  So  far  the  country  through 
which  they  had  passed  had  been  explored  by  a  few 
Hudson's  Bay  trappers,  but  as  they  now  turned 
westward  they  came  into  a  region  entirely  unknown, 
which  they  soon  found  was  almost  uninhabited. 

The  party  had  by  this  time  three  interpreters,  one 
a  Canadian  half-breed  named  Drewyer,  who  had 
inherited  from  his  mother  the  Indian's  skill  in  wood 
craft,  and  who  also  knew  the  language  of  the  white 
explorers.  The  other  two  were  a  man  named 
Chaboneau  and  his  wife,  a  young  squaw  called 
Sacajawea,  the  "  Bird-woman,"  who  had  originally 
belonged  to  the  Snake  tribe,  but  who  had  been 
captured  in  her  childhood  by  Blackfeet  Indians. 
This  Indian  girl  had  married  Chaboneau,  a  French 
wanderer,  who  like  many  others  of  his  kind  had 
sunk  into  an  almost  savage  state.  As  the  squaw 
had  not  forgotten  the  language  of  her  native  people 
the  two  white  leaders  thought  she  would  prove  a 
valuable  help  to  them  in  the  wild  country  westward, 
and  persuaded  her  and  her  husband  to  go  on  with 
them. 

As  the  weather  was  fine  the  party  traveled  rap 
idly,  and  by  April  26th  reached  the  mouth  of  the 
Yellowstone.  They  were  now  very  far  north,  near 
the  northwest  corner  of  what  is  the  state  of  North 
Dakota.  Game  was  still  plentiful  but  the  banks  of 
the  river  were  covered  with  a  coating  of  alkali  salts, 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK     31 

which  made  the  water  of  the  streams  bitter  and 
unpleasant  for  drinking.  Occasionally  they  came 
upon  a  deserted  Indian  camp,  but  in  this  northern 
territory  they  found  few  roving  tribes.  When  there 
was  a  favorable  wind  they  sailed  along  the  Missouri, 
but  most  of  the  time  they  had  to  use  their  oars. 
Early  in  May  they  drew  up  their  birch  canoes  for 
the  night  at  the  mouth  of  a  stream  where  they 
found  a  large  number  of  porcupines  feeding  on 
young  willow  trees.  Captain  Lewis  christened  the 
stream  Porcupine  River.  Here  there  were  quantities 
of  game,  and  elk  and  buffalo  in  abundance,  so  that 
it  was  an  easy  matter  to  provide  food  for  all  the  party. 

Now  they  were  continually  coming  upon  new 
rivers,  many  of  them  broad,  with  swift-flowing  cur 
rents,  and  all  of  them  appealing  to  the  love  of 
exploration.  The  Missouri  was  their  highroad, 
however,  and  so  they  simply  stopped  to  name  the 
different  streams  they  came  to.  One  they  passed 
had  a  peculiar  white  color,  and  Captain  Lewis  called 
it  the  Milk  River.  The  country  along  this  stream 
was  bare  for  some  distance,  with  gradually  rising 
hills  beyond. 

The  game  here  was  very  plentiful  and  the  buffaloes 
were  so  tame  that  the  men  were  obliged  to  drive 
them  away  with  sticks  and  stones.  The  only  danger 
ous  animal  was  the  grizzly  bear,  a  beast  that  never 
seemed  to  know  when  he  had  had  enough  of  a  fight. 
One  evening  the  men  in  the  canoes  saw  a  large 
grizzly  lying  some  three  hundred  paces  from  the 


32  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

shore.  Six  of  them  landed  and  hid  behind  a  small 
hillock  within  forty  paces  of  the  bear ;  four  of  the 
hunters  fired,  and  each  lodged  a  ball  in  the  bear's 
body.  The  animal  sprang  up  and  roared  furiously 
at  them.  As  he  came  near  them  the  two  hunters 
who  had  not  yet  fired  gave  him  two  more  wounds, 
one  of  which  broke  a  shoulder,  but  before  they  had 
time  to  reload  their  guns,  the  bear  was  so  near  them 
that  they  had  to  run  for  the  river.  He  almost  over 
took  them  ;  two  jumped  into  the  canoes  ;  the  other 
four  separated,  and  hiding  in  the  willows  fired  as 
fast  as  they  could  reload  their  guns.  Again  and 
again  they  shot  him,  but  each  time  the  shots  only 
seemed  to  attract  his  attention  toward  the  hunters, 
until  finally  he  chased  two  of  them  so  closely  that 
they  threw  away  their  guns,  and  jumped  down  a 
steep  bank  into  the  river.  The  bear  sprang  after 
them,  and  was  almost  on  top  of  the  rear  man  when 
one  of  the  others  on  shore  shot  him  in  the  head,  and 
finally  killed  him.  They  dragged  him  to  shore, 
and  found  that  eight  balls  had  gone  through  him  in 
different  directions.  The  hunters  took  the  bear's 
skin  back  to  camp,  and  there  they  learned  that  an 
other  adventure  had  occurred.  One  of  the  other 
canoes,  which  contained  all  the  provisions,  instru 
ments,  and  numerous  other  important  articles,  had 
been  under  sail  when  it  was  struck  on  the  side  by  a 
sudden  squall  of  wind.  The  man  at  the  helm,  who 
was  one  of  the  worst  navigators  of  the  party,  made 
the  mistake  of  luffing  the  boat  into  the  wind.  The 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK     33 

wind  was  so  high  that  it  forced  the  brace  of  the 
square-sail  out  of  the  hand  of  the  man  who  was  hold 
ing  it,  and  instantly  upset  the  canoe.  The  boat 
would  have  turned  upside  down  but  for  the  resist 
ance  of  the  canvas  awning.  The  other  boats  hastened 
to  the  rescue,  righted  the  canoe,  and  by  baling  her 
out  kept  her  from  sinking.  They  rowed  the  canoe 
to  shore  and  the  cargo  was  saved.  Had  it  been  lost 
the  expedition  would  have  been  deprived  of  most  of 
the  things  that  were  necessary  for  its  success,  at  a 
distance  of  between  two  and  three  thousand  miles 
from  any  place  where  they  could  get  supplies. 

On  May  2Oth  they  reached  the  yellowish  waters  of 
the  Musselshell  River.  A  short  distance  beyond  this 
Captain  Lewis  caught  his  first  view  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  one  of  the  goals  toward  which  they  were 
tending.  Along  the  Musselshell  the  country  was 
covered  with  wild  roses  and  small  honeysuckle,  but 
soon  after  they  came  into  a  region  that  was  very  bare 
and  dry,  where  both  game  and  timber  were  scarce, 
the  mosquitoes  annoying,  the  noonday  sun  uncom 
fortably  hot,  and  the  nights  very  coldu  The  Mis 
souri  River,  along  which  they  were  still  traveling,  was 
now  heading  to  the  southwest.  They  were  near  the 
border  of  the  present  state  of  Idaho  when  they  passed 
several  old  Indian  camps,  most  of  which  seemed  to 
have  been  deserted  for  five  or  six  weeks.  From  this 
fact  they  judged  that  they  were  following  a  band  of 
about  one  hundred  lodges,  who  were  traveling  up  the 
same  river.  They  knew  that  the  Minnetarees  of  the 


34  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

Missouri  often  traveled  as  far  west  as  the  Yellow 
stone,  and  presumed  that  the  Indians  ahead  of  them 
belonged  to  that  tribe.  There  were  other  evidences 
of  the  Indians.  At  the  foot  of  a  cliff  they  found  the 
bodies  of  a  great  many  slaughtered  buffaloes,  which 
had  been  hunted  after  the  fashion  of  the  Blackfeet. 
Their  way  of  hunting  was  to  select  one  of  the  most 
active  braves,  and  disguise  him  by  tying  a  buffalo 
skin  around  his  body,  fastening  the  skin  of  the  head, 
with  ears  and  horns,  over  the  head  of  the  brave. 
Thus  disguised  the  Indian  would  take  a  position  be 
tween  a  herd  of  buffalo  and  the  precipice  overlook 
ing  a  river.  The  other  hunters  would  steal  back  of 
the  herd,  and  at  a  given  signal  chase  them.  The 
buffaloes  would  run  in  the  direction  of  the  disguised 
brave,  who  would  lead  them  on  at  full  speed  toward 
the  river.  As  he  reached  the  edge  he  would  quickly 
hide  himself  in  some  crevice  or  ravine  of  the  cliff, 
which  he  had  chosen  beforehand,  and  the  herd  would 
be  left  on  the  brink.  The  buffaloes  in  front  could 
not  stop  being  driven  on  by  those  behind,  who  in 
their  turn  would  be  closely  pursued  by  the  hunters. 
The  whole  herd,  therefore,  would  usually  rush  over 
the  cliff,  and  the  hunters  could  take  their  pick  of 
hides  and  meat  in  the  river  below.  This  method  of 
hunting  was  very  extravagant,  but  at  that  time  the 
Indians  had  no  thought  of  preserving  the  buffaloes. 
One  of  the  rivers  Lewis  passed  in  this  region  he 
named  the  Slaughter  River,  on  account  of  this  way 
of  hunting. 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK     35 

When  the  Missouri  turned  southward  the  explorers 
came  to  many  steep  rapids,  around  which  the  canoes 
had  to  be  carried,  which  made  traveling  slow.  Often 
the  banks  were  so  steep  and  the  mud  so  thick  that 
the  men  were  obliged  to  take  off  their  moccasins,  and 
much  of  the  time  they  were  up  to  their  arms  in  the 
cold  water  of  the  river.  But  there  was  a  great  deal 
to  charm  the  eye  in  the  opening  spring,  even  in  that 
bare  country.  Lewis  found  places  near  the  river 
filled  with  choke-cherries,  yellow  currants,  wild 
roses,  and  prickly  pears  in  full  bloom.  In  the  dis 
tance  the  mountains,  rising  in  long  greenish-blue 
chains,  the  tops  covered  with  snow,  invited  the 
travelers  to  find  what  lay  on  the  other  side  of  their 
ridges. 

On  June  3d  they  reached  a  place  where  the  river 
divided  into  two  wide  streams,  and  it  became  very 
important  to  decide  which  of  the  two  was  the  one 
that  the  Indians  called  the  Ahmateahza,  or  Missouri, 
which  they  had  said  approached  very  near  to  the 
Columbia  River.  Lewis  knew  that  the  success  of 
his  expedition  depended  largely  upon  choosing  the" 
right  stream,  because  if,  after  they  had  ascended  the 
Rocky  Mountains  beyond,  they  should  find  that  the 
river  they  had  taken  did  not  bring  them  near  the 
Columbia,  they  would  have  to  return,  and  thereby 
would  lose  a  large  part  of  the  summer,  which  was 
the  only  season  when  they  could  travel.  For  this 
reason  he  decided  to  send  out  two  exploring  parties. 
He  himself  made  a  two  days'  march  up  the  north 


36  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

branch,  and  deciding  that  this  was  not  the  Missouri, 
he  named  it  Maria's  River.  As  they  came  back 
they  had  to  walk  along  high  cliffs,  and  at  one  steep 
point  Captain  Lewis  slipped,  and,  if  he  had  not  been 
able  to  catch  himself  with  his  mountain  stick,  would 
have  been  thrown  into  the  river.  He  had  just 
reached  a  point  of  safety  when  he  heard  a  man  be 
hind  him  call  out,  "  Good  God,  captain,  what  shall  I 
do  ?  "  Turning  instantly  he  found  that  his  compan 
ion  had  lost  his  footing  on  the  narrow  pass,  and  had 
slipped  down  to  the  very  edge  of  the  precipice, 
where  he  lay  with  his  right  arm  and  leg  over  the 
cliff,  while  with  the  other  arm  and  leg  he  was  trying 
to  keep  from  slipping  over.  Lewis  saw  the  danger, 
but  calmly  told  the  other  to  take  his  knife  from  his 
belt  with  his  right  hand,  and  dig  a  hole  in  the  side 
of  the  bluff  in  which  to  stick  his  foot.  With  great 
presence  of  mind  the  man  did  this,  and  getting  a 
foothold,  raised  himself  on  his  knees.  Lewis  then 
told  him  to  take  off  his  moccasins,  and  crawl  forward 
on  his  hands  and  knees,  his  knife  in  one  hand  and 
his  rifle  in  the  other.  In  this  manner  the  man  re 
gained  a  secure  place  on  the  cliff. 

Captain  Lewis  considered  that  this  method  of 
traveling  was  too  dangerous,  and  he  ordered  the  rest 
of  the  party  to  wade  the  river  at  the  foot  of  the  bluff, 
where  the  water  was  only  breast-high.  This  ad 
venture  taught  them  the  danger  of  crossing  the  slip 
pery  heights  above  the  stream,  but  as  the  plains 
were  broken  by  ravines  almost  as  difficult  to  pass, 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK     37 

they  kept  on  down  the  river,  sometimes  wading  in 
the  mud  of  the  low  grounds,  sometimes  in  the  water, 
but  when  that  became  too  deep,  cutting  footholds  in 
the  river  bank  with  their  knives.  On  that  particular 
day  they  traveled  through  rain,  mud,  and  water  for 
eighteen  miles,  and  at  night  camped  in  a  deserted 
Indian  lodge  built  of  sticks.  Here  they  cooked  part 
of  the  six  deer  they  had  killed  in  the  day's  traveling, 
and  slept  on  willow  boughs  they  piled  inside  the 
lodge. 

Many  of  the  party  thought  that  the  north  fork  was 
the  Missouri  River,  but  Lewis  and  Clark  were  both 
convinced  that  the  south  fork  was  the  real  Missouri. 
They  therefore  hid  their  heaviest  boat  and  all  the 
supplies  they  could  spare,  and  prepared  to  push  on 
with  as  little  burden  as  possible.  A  few  days  later 
Lewis  was  proved  to  be  right  in  his  judgment  of 
the  south  fork,  for  on  June  I3th  he  came  to  the 
Great  Falls  of  the  Missouri.  The  grandeur  of  the 
falls  made  a  tremendous  impression  on  them  all. 
The  river,  three  hundred  yards  wide,  was  shut  in  by 
steep  cliffs,  and  for  ninety  yards  from  the  left  cliff 
the  water  fell  in  a  smooth  sheet  over  a  precipice 
of  eighty  feet.  The  rest  of  the  river  shot  forward 
with  greater  force,  and,  being  broken  by  projecting 
rocks,  sent  clouds  of  foam  into  the  air.  As  the 
water  struck  the  basin  below  the  falls  it  beat  furiously 
against  the  ledge  of  rocks  that  extended  across  the 
river,  and  Lewis  found  that  for  three  miles  below  the 
stream  was  one  line  of  rapids  and  cascades,  over- 


38  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

hung  by  bluffs.  Five  miles  above  the  first  falls  the 
whole  river  was  blocked  by  one  straight  shelf  of 
rock,  over  which  the  water  ran  in  an  even  sheet,  a 
majestic  sight. 

This  part  of  the  Missouri,  however,  offered  great 
difficulties  to  their  travel.  The  men  had  now  jour 
neyed  constantly  for  several  months,  and  were  in  a 
region  of  steep  falls  and  rapids.  It  was  clear  that 
they  could  not  carry  the  boats  on  their  shoulders  for 
long  distances.  Fortunately  they  found  a  small 
creek  at  the  foot  of  the  falls,  and  by  this  they  were 
able  to  reach  the  highlands.  From  there  Lieutenant 
Clark  and  a  few  men  surveyed  the  trail  they  were  to 
follow,  while  others  hunted  and  prepared  stores  of 
dried  meat,  and  the  carpenter  built  a  carriage  to 
transport  the  boats.  They  found  a  large  cottonwood 
tree,  about  twenty-two  inches  in  diameter,  which 
provided  them  with  the  carnage  wheels.  They  de 
cided  to  leave  one  of  their  boats  behind,  and  use  its 
mast  for  two  axle-trees. 

Meantime  Clark  studied  the  river  and  found  that 
a  series  of  rapids  made  a  perilous  descent,  and  that 
a  portage  of  thirteen  miles  would  be  necessary.  The 
country  was  difficult  for  traveling,  being  covered 
with  patches  of  prickly  pears,  the  needles  of  which 
cut  through  the  moccasins  of  the  men  who  dragged 
the  boat's  carriage.  To  add  to  the  difficulty,  when 
they  were  about  five  miles  from  their  goal  the  axle- 
trees  broke,  and  then  the  tongues  of  green  cotton- 
wood  gave  way.  They  had  to  stop  and  search  for 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK     39 

a  substitute,  and  finally  found  willow  trees,  which 
provided  them  with  enough  wood  to  patch  up  the 
boat-carriage.  Half  a  mile  from  their  new  camping 
place  the  carriage  broke  again,  and  this  time  they 
found  it  easier  to  carry  boat  and  baggage  than  to 
build  a  new  conveyance0  Captain  Lewis  described 
the  state  of  his  party  at  this  portage.  "  The  men," 
he  wrote,  "  are  loaded  as  heavily  as  their  strength 
will  permit ;  the  crossing  is  really  painful ;  some  are 
limping  with  the  soreness  of  their  feet,  others  are 
scarcely  able  to  stand  for  more  than  a  few  minutes 
from  the  heat  and  fatigue ;  they  are  all  obliged  to 
halt  and  rest  frequently,  and  at  almost  every  stop 
ping  place  they  fall,  and  many  of  them  are  asleep  in 
an  instant." 

As  they  had  to  go  back  to  the  other  side  of  the 
rapids  for  the  stores  they  had  left,  they  were  obliged 
to  repair  the  carriage  and  cross  the  portage  again 
and  again.  After  ten  days'  work  all  their  stores 
were  above  the  falls. 

While  they  were  busy  making  this  portage  they 
had  several  narrow  escapes  from  attacks  by  grizzly 
bears.  The  bears  were  so  bold  that  they  would  walk 
into  the  camp  at  night,  attracted  by  buffalo  meat, 
and  the  sleeping  men  were  in  danger  from  their 
claws.  A  tremendous  storm  added  to  their  discom 
fort,  and  the  hailstones  were  driven  so  furiously  by 
the  high  wind  that  they  wounded  some  of  the  men. 
Before  the  storm  Lieutenant  Clark,  with  his  colored 
servant  York,  the  half-breed  Chaboneau,  and  his 


40  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

Indian  wife  and  young  child,  had  taken  the  road 
above  the  falls  on  their  way  to  camp  when  they 
noticed  a  very  dark  cloud  coming  up  rapidly  in  the 
west.  Clark  hunted  about  for  shelter,  and  at  length 
found  a  ravine  protected  by  shelving  rocks  under 
which  they  could  take  refuge.  Here  they  were  safe 
from  the  rain,  and  they  laid  down  their  guns,  com 
pass,  and  the  other  articles  they  had  with  them. 
Rain  and  hail  beat  upon  their  shelter,  and  the  rain 
began  to  fall  in  such  solid  sheets  that  it  washed  down 
rocks  and  mud  from  higher  up  the  ravine.  Then  a 
landslide  started,  but  just  before  the  heaviest  part  of 
it  struck  them  Lieutenant  Clark  seized  his  gun  in 
one  hand,  and  pushed  the  Indian  woman,  her  child 
in  her  arms,  up  the  bank.  Her  husband  also  caught 
at  her  and  pulled  her  along,  but  he  was  so  much 
frightened  at  the  noise  and  danger  that  but  for 
Clark's  steadiness  he,  with  his  wife  and  child,  would 
probably  have  been  lost.  As  it  was,  Clark  could 
hardly  climb  as  fast  as  the  water  rose.  Had  they 
waited  a  minute  longer  they  would  have  been  swept 
into  the  Missouri  just  above  the  Great  Falls.  They 
reached  the  top  in  safety,  and  there  found  York, 
who  had  left  them  just  before  the  storm  to  hunt  some 
buffalo.  They  pushed  on  to  camp  where  the  rest  of 
the  party  had  already  taken  shelter,  and  had  aban 
doned  all  work  for  that  day. 

While  the  men  were  building  a  new  boat  of  skins, 
Captain  Lewis  spent  much  time  studying  the  animals, 
trees,  and  plants  of  the  region,  making  records  of  them 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK    41 

to  take  home.  Ever  since  their  arrival  at  the  falls 
they  had  heard  a  strange  noise  coming  from  the 
mountains  a  little  to  the  north  of  west.  "  It  is  heard 
at  different  periods  of  the  day  and  night,"  Lewis 
wrote,  "  sometimes  when  the  air  is  perfectly  still  and 
without  a  cloud,  and  consists  of  one  stroke  only,  or 
of  five  or  six  discharges  in  quick  succession.  It  is 
loud,  and  resembles  precisely  the  sound  of  a  six- 
pound  piece  of  ordnance  at  the  distance  of  three 
miles.  The  Minnetarees  frequently  mentioned  this 
noise  like  thunder,  which  they  said  the  mountains 
made  ;  but  we  paid  no  attention  to  it,  believing  it  to 
have  been  some  superstition,  or  perhaps  a  falsehood. 
The  watermen  also  of  the  party  say  that  the  Pawnees 
and  Ricaras  give  the  same  account  of  a  noise  heard 
in  the  Black  Mountains  to  the  westward  of  them. 
The  solution  of  the  mystery  given  by  the  philosophy 
of  the  watermen  is,  that  it  is  occasioned  by  the 
bursting  of  the  rich  mines  of  silver  confined  within 
the  bosom  of  the  mountain." 

Early  in  July  the  new  boat  was  finished.  It  was 
very  strong,  and  yet  could  be  carried  easily  by  five 
men.  But  when  it  was  first  launched  they  found 
that  the  tar-like  material  with  which  they  had 
covered  the  skins  that  made  the  body  of  the  boat 
would  not  withstand  water,  and  so  the  craft  leaked. 
After  trying  to  repair  the  boat  for  several  days  they 
finally  decided  to  abandon  it.  Putting  all  their 
luggage  into  the  canoes  they  resumed  their  journey 
up  the  river. 


42  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

As  the  canoes  were  heavily  loaded  the  men  who 
were  not  needed  to  paddle  them  walked  along  the 
shore.  The  country  here  was  very  picturesque.  At 
times  they  climbed  hills  that  gave  them  wide  views 
of  open  country  never  explored  by  white  men  ;  again 
they  waded  through  fields  of  wild  rye,  reminding 
them  of  the  farm  lands  of  the  East ;  sometimes  their 
path  wound  through  forests  of  redwood  trees,  and 
always  they  could  see  the  high  mountains,  still  snow 
capped.  The  glistening  light  on  the  mountain  tops 
told  the  explorers  why  they  were  called  the  Shining 
Mountains. 

Game  was  now  less  plentiful,  and  as  they  had  to 
save  the  dried  meat  for  the  crossing  of  the  moun 
tains,  it  became  a  problem  to  provide  food  for  the 
party  of  thirty-two  people,  who  usually  consumed  a 
daily  supply  equal  to  an  elk  and  deer,  four  deer  or  one 
buffalo.  The  wild  berries,  however,  were  now  ripe, 
and  as  there  were  quantities  of  these  they  helped  to 
furnish  the  larder.  There  were  red,  purple,  yel 
low,  and  black  currants,  gooseberries,  and  service- 
berries.  The  sunflower  grew  everywhere.  Lewis 
wrote  in  his  diary :  "  The  Indians  of  the  Missouri, 
more  especially  those  who  do  not  cultivate  maize, 
make  great  use  of  the  seed  of  this  plant  for  bread  or 
in  thickening  their  soup.  They  first  parch  and  then 
pound  it  between  two  stones  until  it  is  reduced  to  a 
fine  meal.  Sometimes  they  add  a  portion  of  water, 
and  drink  it  thus  diluted  ;  at  other  times  they  add  a 
sufficient  proportion  of  marrow  grease  to  reduce  it  to 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK    43 

the  consistency  of  common  dough  and  eat  it  in  that 
manner.  This  last  composition  we  preferred  to  all 
the  rest,  and  thought  it  at  that  time  a  very  palatable 
dish." 

The  Missouri  now  flowed  to  the  south,  and  on  July 
1 8th  the  party  reached  a  wide  stream,  which  they 
named  Dearborn  River  in  honor  of  the  Secre 
tary  of  War.  Lewis  meant  to  send  back  a  small 
party  in  canoes  from  this  point,  but  as  he  had  not  yet 
met  the  Snake  Indians,  and  was  uncertain  as  to  their 
friendliness,  he  decided  he  had  better  not  weaken 
his  expedition  here.  He,  however,  sent  Clark  with 
three  men  on  a  scouting  trip.  Clark  found  an  old 
Indian  road,  which  he  followed,  but  the  prickly  pears 
cut  the  feet  of  his  men  so  badly  that  he  could  not 
go  far.  Along  his  track  he  strewed  signals,  pieces 
of  cloth  and  paper,  to  show  the  Indians,  if  they  should 
cross  that  trail,  that  the  party  was  composed  of  white 
men.  Before  he  returned  the  main  party  had  dis 
covered  a  great  column  of  smoke  up  the  valley,  and 
suspected  that  this  was  an  Indian  signal  to  show  that 
their  approach  had  been  discovered.  Afterward 
they  learned  that  this  was  the  fact.  The  Indians 
had  heard  one  of  Clark's  men  fire  a  gun,  and,  taking 
alarm,  had  fled  into  the  mountains,  giving  the  smoke 
signal  to  warn  the  rest  of  the  tribe. 

The  high  mountains  now  began  to  draw  close  to 
the  expedition,  and  they  camped  one  night  at  a 
place  called  the  Gates  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
Here  tremendous  rocks  rose  directly  from  the  river's 


44  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

edge  almost  twelve  hundred  feet  in  the  air ;  at  the 
base  they  were  made  of  black  granite,  but  the  upper 
part  Lewis  decided  was  probably  flint  of  a  yellowish 
brown  and  cream  color.  On  July  25th  the  advance 
guard  reached  the  three  forks  of  the  Missouri. 
Chaboneau  was  ill,  and  they  had  to  wait  until  Lewis 
and  the  others  caught  up.  They  named  the  forks  of 
the  river  Gallatin,  Madison,  and  Jefferson,  in  honor 
of  the  statesmen  of  those  names.  It  was  at  this 
place  that  the  Indian  squaw  Sacajawea  had  been  in 
camp  with  her  tribe  five  years  before  when  the 
Minnetarees  attacked  them,  killed  some,  and  made  a 
prisoner  of  her  and  some  others.  Lewis  hoped  that 
she  would  be  able  to  help  them  if  they  should  fall  in 
with  bands  of  her  own  tribe. 

As  the  main  stream  ended  here,  the  party  now  fol 
lowed  the  Jefferson  River.  They  soon  decided  that 
it  would  be  necessary  to  secure  horses  if  they  were 
to  cross  the  mountains,  and  Lewis  with  three  men 
set  out  to  try  to  find  the  Shoshone  Indians,  from 
whom  they  might  buy  mounts.  After  several  hours' 
march  they  saw  a  man  on  horseback  coming  across 
the  plain  toward  them  ;  examining  him  through  the 
glass  Lewis  decided  that  he  belonged  to  a  different 
tribe  of  Indians  from  any  that  they  had  yet  met,  prob 
ably  the  Shoshones.  He  was  armed  with  a  bow  and 
a  quiver  of  arrows,  and  rode  a  good  horse  without  a 
saddle,  a  small  string  attached  to  the  lower  jaw  an 
swering  as  a  bridle.  Lewis  was  anxious  to  convince 
him  that  the  white  men  meant  to  be  friendly,  and 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK    45 

went  toward  him  at  his  usual  pace.  When  they 
were  still  some  distance  apart  the  Indian  suddenly 
stopped.  Lewis  immediately  stopped  also,  and 
taking  his  blanket  from  his  knapsack,  and  holding 
it  with  both  hands  at  the  four  corners  threw  it 
above  his  head  and  then  unfolded  it  as  he  brought 
it  to  the  ground,  as  if  in  the  act  of  spreading  it. 
This  signal,  which  was  intended  to  represent  the 
spreading  of  a  robe  as  a  seat  for  guests,  was  the 
common  sign  of  friendship  among  the  Indian  tribes 
of  the  Missouri  and  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Lewis 
repeated  the  sign  three  times,  and  then  taking  some 
beads,  a  looking-glass,  and  a  few  other  trinkets 
from  his  knapsack,  and  leaving  his  gun,  walked  on 
toward  the  Indian.  But  when  he  was  within  two  hun 
dred  yards  of  him  the  Indian  turned  his  horse  and 
began  to  ride  away.  Captain  Lewis  then  called  to 
him,  using  words  of  the  Shoshones.  The  captain's 
companions  now  walked  forward,  also,  and  their  ad 
vance  evidently  frightened  the  Indian,  for  he  sud 
denly  whipped  his  horse  and  disappeared  in  a  clump 
of  willow  bushes.  When  they  returned  to  the  camp 
Lewis  packed  some  more  Indian  gifts  in  his  knap 
sack,  and  fastened  a  small  United  States  flag  to  a 
pole  to  be  carried  by  one  of  the  men,  which  was 
intended  as  a  friendly  signal  should  the  Indians 
see  them  advancing. 

The  next  day  brought  them  to  the  head-waters  of 
the  Jefferson  River,  rising  from  low  mountains. 
They  had  now  reached  the  sources  of  the  great 


46  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

Missouri  River,  a  place  never  before  seen  by  white 
men.  From  this  distant  spot  flowed  the  waters  that 
traversed  a  third  of  the  continent,  finally  flowing  into 
the  Mississippi  near  St.  Louis. 

Leaving  the  river,  they  followed  an  Indian  road 
through  the  hills,  and  reached  the  top  of  a  ridge 
from  which  they  could  see  more  mountains,  partly 
covered  with  snow.  The  ridge  on  which  they  stood 
marked  the  dividing  line  between  the  waters  of  the 
Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  Oceans.  Going  down  the 
farther  side  they  came  to  a  creek,  which  was  part  of 
the  Columbia  River  ;  near  this  was  a  spring.  They 
gathered  enough  dry  willow  brush  for  fuel,  and 
halted  for  the  night.  Here  they  ate  their  last  piece 
of  pork,  and  had  only  a  little  flour  and  parched  meal 
left  in  the  way  of  provisions.  Early  next  day  Lewis 
went  forward  on  foot,  hoping  to  find  some  Indians. 
After  several  hours  he  saw  three  ;  but  they  fled  away. 
Later  he  came  upon  three  Indian  women  ;  one  of  them 
ran,  but  the  other  two,  an  elderly  woman  and  a  little 
girl,  approached,  evidently  thinking  that  the  strangers 
were  too  near  for  them  to  escape,  and  sat  down  on 
the  ground.  Lewis  put  down  his  rifle  and  walking 
to  them,  took  the  woman  by  the  hand,  and  helped 
her  up.  He  then  rolled  up  his  shirt  sleeve  to  show 
that  he  was  a  white  man,  since  his  hands  and  face 
were  almost  as  dark  as  an  Indian's.  His  companions 
joined  him,  and  they  gave  the  Indians  some  pewter 
mirrors,  beads,  and  other  presents.  He  painted  the 
women's  cheeks  with  some  vermilion  paint,  which 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK    47 

was  the  Shoshone  custom,  meaning  peace.  He  then 
made  them  understand  by  signs  that  he  wished  to 
go  to  their  camp  to  see  their  chiefs.  The  squaw  led 
the  white  men  along  a  road  for  some  two  miles,  when 
they  met  a  band  of  sixty  mounted  warriors  riding 
toward  them.  Again  Lewis  dropped  his  rifle,  and 
courageously  marched  out  to  deal  with  these  un 
known  red  men.  The  chief  and  two  others  galloped 
up  in  advance  and  spoke  to  the  women,  who 
showed  them  the  presents  they  had  just  received. 
Then  the  three  Indians  leaped  from  their  horses,  and 
coming  up  to  Lewis,  put  their  arms  about  him  in 
friendly  greeting,  at  the  same  time  rubbing  their 
cheeks  against  his  and  smearing  considerable  paint 
on  his  face.  The  other  white  men  advanced  and 
were  greeted  in  the  same  way.  Lewis  gave  presents 
to  the  warriors,  and,  lighting  a  pipe,  offered  it  to 
them  for  the  "  smoke  of  peace."  Before  they  smoked 
it,  however,  the  Indians  took  off  their  moccasins,  a 
custom  which  meant  that  they  would  go  bare 
footed  forever,  before  they  broke  their  treaty  of 
friendship  with  their  friends.  The  chief  then  turned 
and  led  the  white  men  and  his  warriors  to  their 
camp.  Here  the  white  men  were  invited  into  a 
leathern  lodge,  and  seated  on  green  boughs  and 
antelope  skins.  A  small  fire  was  lit  in  the  centre. 
Again  taking  off  their  moccasins,  the  chief  lighted 
a  pipe  made  of  some  highly  polished  green  stone ; 
after  some  words  in  his  own  tongue  he  handed  the 
pipe  to  Captain  Lewis,  who  then  handed  it  to  the 


48  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

other  white  men.  Each  took  a  few  whiffs,  and  then 
passed  it  back  to  the  warriors.  After  this  ceremony 
was  finished,  Lewis  explained  that  they  were  in  great 
need  of  food.  The  chief  presented  them  with  cakes 
made  of  sun-dried  service-berries  and  choke-cherries. 
Later  another  warrior  gave  them  a  piece  of  boiled 
antelope,  and  some  fresh  roasted  salmon,  the  first 
salmon  Lewis  had  seen,  which  convinced  him  that 
he  was  now  on  the  waters  of  the  Columbia  River. 
He  learned  that  the  Indians  had  received  word  of 
the  advance  of  his  party,  whom  they  at  first  took  to 
be  a  hostile  tribe,  and  had  therefore  set  out,  pre 
pared  for  an  attack.  As  a  further  sign  of  good 
will,  the  white  men  were  invited  to  witness  an  In 
dian  dance,  which  lasted  nearly  all  night.  It  was 
late  when  the  white  men,  tired  by  their  long  day's 
journey,  were  allowed  to  take  their  rest. 

On  the  next  day  Captain  Lewis  tried  to  persuade 
the  Shoshones  to  accompany  him  across  the  divide 
in  order  to  assist  in  bringing  his  baggage  over.  It 
took  considerable  argument  to  get  the  Indians  to  do 
this,  and  he  had  to  promise  them  more  gifts  and 
arouse  their  curiosity  by  telling  them  that  there  were 
a  black  man  and  a  native  Indian  woman  in  his  camp, 
before  he  could  induce  them  to  consent.  Finally 
the  chief,  Cameahwait,  and  several  of  his  warriors 
agreed  to  go  with  Lewis.  When  they  reached  the 
place  where  the  rest  of  the  party  were  camped 
the  chief  was  surprised  and  delighted  to  find 
that  the  Indian  woman,  Sacajawea,  was  his  own 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK    49 

sister,  whom  he  had  not  seen  since  she  had  been 
captured  by  the  enemies  of  his  tribe.  Clark's  negro 
servant,  York,  caused  much  amazement  to  the 
Indians,  who  had  never  seen  a  man  of  his  color 
before.  Lewis  then  had  a  long  talk  with  the 
Shoshones,  telling  them  of  the  great  power  of  the 
government  he  represented,  and  of  the  advantages 
they  would  receive  by  trading  with  the  white  men. 
Presently  he  won  their  good-will,  and  they  agreed 
to  give  him  four  horses  in  exchange  for  firearms 
and  other  articles.  Sacajawea  was  of  the  greatest 
help  in  the  talk  between  the  white  men  and  the  Sho 
shones,  and  it  was  she  who  finally  induced  her  brother 
to  do  all  he  could  to  assist  the  explorers. 

Lewis  now  sent  Clark  ahead  to  explore  the  route 
along  the  Columbia  River,  and  to  build  canoes  if 
possible.  The  Indians  had  told  him  that  their  road 
would  lie  over  steep,  rocky  mountains,  where  there 
would  be  little  or  no  game,  and  then  for  ten  days 
across  a  sandy  desert.  Clark  pushed  on,  and  found 
all  the  Indians'  reports  correct.  He  met  a  few  small 
parties  of  Indians,  but  they  had  no  provisions  to 
spare,  and  his  men  were  soon  exhausted  from  hunger 
and  the  weariness  of  marching  over  mountains. 
His  expedition  proved  that  it  would  be  impossible 
for  the  main  party  to  follow  this  river,  to  which  he 
gave  the  name  of  Lewis,  and  he  returned  to  the 
camp  of  the  Shoshones,  which  Lewis  and  the  others 
had  made  their  headquarters. 

In  this  camp  the  white  men  made  preparations  for 


50  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

the  rest  of  their  journey.  They  finally  obtained 
twenty-nine  young  horses  and  saddles  for  them. 
They  also  studied  the  history  and  habits  of  this 
tribe,  who  had  once  been  among  the  most  powerful, 
but  had  been  lately  defeated  in  battle  by  their  neigh 
bors.  The  Shoshones  were  also  called  the  Snake 
Indians,  and  lived  along  the  rivers  of  the  northwest, 
fishing  for  salmon  and  hunting  buffaloes.  Their 
chief  wealth  lay  in  their  small,  wiry  horses,  which 
were  very  sure-footed  and  fleet,  and  to  which  they 
paid  a  great  deal  of  attention. 

On  August  2 yth  the  expedition  started  afresh, 
with  twenty-nine  packhorses,  heading  across  the 
mountains  to  other  Indian  encampments  on  another 
branch  of  the  Columbia.  Travel  was  slow,  as  in 
many  places  they  had  to  cut  a  road  for  the  ponies, 
and  often  the  path  was  so  rough  that  the  heavily- 
burdened  horses  would  slip  and  fall.  Snow  fell  at 
one  time,  and  added  to  the  difficulty  of  the  journey, 
but  by  September  6th  they  had  passed  the  moun 
tain  range,  and  had  come  into  a  wide  valley,  at 
the  head  of  a  stream  they  called  Clark's  Fork  of  the 
Columbia.  Here  they  met  about  four  hundred 
Ootlashoot  Indians,  to  whom  they  gave  presents  in 
exchange  for  fresh  horses.  Continuing  again,  they 
reached  Traveler's  Rest  Creek,  and  here  they 
stopped  to  hunt,  as  the  Indians  had  told  them  that 
the  country  ahead  held  no  game.  After  refurnishing 
their  larder  they  pushed  on  westward,  and  ran  into 
another  snow-storm,  which  made  riding  more  diffi- 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK     51 

cult  than  ever.  Their  provisions  were  soon  ex 
hausted,  game  was  lacking,  and  the  situation  was 
discouraging.  The  march  had  proved  very  tiring, 
and  there  was  no  immediate  prospect  of  reaching 
better  country.  Lewis,  therefore,  sent  Clark  with 
six  hunters  ahead,  but  this  light  scouting  party 
was  able  to  find  very  little  game,  and  was  nearly 
exhausted,  when  on  September  2Oth  Clark  came 
upon  a  village  of  the  Chopunish  or  Nez  Perces 
Indians,  in  a  beautiful  valley.  These  Indians  had 
fish,  roots,  and  berries,  which  they  gave  the  white 
men,  who  at  once  sent  some  back  to  Lewis  and 
the  others.  These  provisions  reached  the  main 
party  at  a  time  when  they  had  been  without  food  for 
more  than  a  day.  Strengthened  by  the  supplies, 
and  encouraged  by  news  of  the  Indian  village,  they 
hastened  forward,  and  reached  the  Nez  Perces'  en 
campment. 

Their  stock  of  firearms  and  small  articles  enabled 
them  to  buy  provisions  from  these  Indians ;  and 
they  moved  on  to  the  forks  of  the  Snake  River, 
where  they  camped  for  several  days,  to  enable  the 
party  to  regain  its  strength.  They  built  five  canoes 
in  the  Indian  fashion,  and  launched  them  on  the 
river,  which  they  hoped  would  lead  them  to  the 
ocean.  Lewis  hid  his  saddles  and  extra  ammunition, 
and,  having  branded  the  horses,  turned  them  over 
to  three  Indians,  who  agreed  to  take  care  of  them 
until  the  party  should  return. 

The     Snake     River,    flowing    through    beautiful 


52  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

country,  was  filled  with  rapids,  and  they  had  many 
hardships  in  passing  them.  At  one  place  a  canoe 
struck  a  rock,  and  immediately  filled  with  water  and 
sank.  Several  of  the  men  could  not  swim,  and  were 
rescued  with  difficulty.  At  the  same  time  they  had 
to  guard  their  supplies  carefully  at  night  from 
wandering  Indians,  who,  although  they  were 
friendly,  could  not  resist  the  temptation  to  steal 
small  articles  of  all  sorts.  The  rapids  passed,  the 
river  brought  them  into  the  main  stream  of  the 
Lewis  River,  and  this  in  turn  led  them  to  the  junc 
tion  of  the  Lewis  and  Columbia  Rivers,  which 
they  reached  on  October  iyth.  Here  they  parted 
from  the  last  of  the  Nez  Perces  Indians.  The 
Columbia  had  as  many  rapids  as  the  smaller  river, 
and  in  addition  they  came  to  the  Great  Falls,  where 
they  had  to  lower  the  canoes  by  ropes  made  of  elk- 
skin.  At  one  or  two  places  they  had  to  make 
portages,  but  as  this  involved  a  great  deal  of  extra 
labor,  they  tried  to  keep  to  the  stream  wherever  they 
could.  At  one  place  a  tremendous  rock  jutted  into 
the  river,  leaving  a  channel  only  forty-five  yards  wide 
through  which  the  Columbia  passed,  its  waters 
tossed  into  great  whirlpools  and  wild  currents. 
Lewis  decided  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  carry 
the  boats  over  this  high  rock,  and  determined  to 
rely  on  skillful  steering  of  them  through  the  narrow 
passage.  He  succeeded  in  doing  this,  although 
Indians  whom  he  had  met  shortly  before  had  told 
him  that  it  was  impossible.  At  several  places  they 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK     53 

landed  most  of  the  men  and  all  the  valuable  articles, 
and  the  two  chief  explorers  took  the  canoes  through 
the  rapids  themselves,  not  daring  to  trust  the  navi 
gation  to  less  experienced  hands. 

In  this  far-western  country  they  were  continually 
meeting  wandering  Indians,  and  they  learned  from 
them  that  the  Pacific  Ocean  was  not  far  distant.  On 
October  28th  Lewis  found  an  Indian  wearing  a 
round  hat  and  sailor's  jacket,  which  had  been  brought 
up  the  river  in  trade,  and  soon  after  he  found  other 
red  men  wearing  white  men's  clothes.  On  the  thirty- 
first  they  came  to  more  falls.  Here  they  followed 
the  example  of  their  Indian  friends,  and  carried  the 
canoes  and  baggage  across  the  slippery  rocks  to  the 
foot  of  the  rapids.  The  large  canoes  were  brought 
down  by  slipping  them  along  on  poles,  which  were 
stretched  from  one  rock  to  another.  They  had  to 
stop  constantly  to  make  repairs  to  the  boats,  which 
had  weathered  all  sorts  of  currents,  and  had  been 
buffeted  against  innumerable  rocks  and  tree-trunks. 
Then  they  discovered  tide-water  in  the  river,  and 
pushed  on  eagerly  to  a  place  called  Diamond  Island. 
Here,  Lewis  wrote,  "  we  met  fifteen  Indians  ascend 
ing  the  river  in  two  canoes  ;  but  the  only  information 
we  could  procure  from  them  was  that  they  had  seen 
three  vessels,  which  we  presumed  to  be  European,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Columbia." 

They  came  to  more  and  more  Indian  villages,  gen 
erally  belonging  to  the  Skilloot  tribe,  who  were  very 
friendly,  but  who  were  too  sharp  at  a  bargain  to 


54  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

please  Captain  Lewis.  On  November  7,  1805,  they 
reached  a  point  from  which  they  could  see  the  ocean. 
Lewis  says  :  "  The  fog  cleared  off,  and  we  enjoyed 
the  delightful  prospect  of  the  ocean — that  ocean,  the 
object  of  all  our  labors,  the  reward  of  all  our  anxie 
ties.  This  cheering  view  exhilarated  the  spirits  of  all 
the  party,  who  were  still  more  delighted  on  hearing 
the  distant  roar  of  the  breakers,  and  went  on  with 
great  cheerfulness." 

It  was  late  in  the  year,  and  the  captain  wished  to 
push  on  so  that  he  might  winter  on  the  coast,  but  a 
heavy  storm  forced  them  to  land  and  seek  refuge 
under  a  high  cliff.  The  waves  on  the  river  were 
very  high,  and  the  wind  was  blowing  a  gale  directly 
from  the  sea  ;  great  waves  broke  over  the  place 
where  they  camped,  and  they  had  to  use  the  utmost 
care  to  save  their  canoes  from  being  smashed  by 
drifting  logs.  Here  they  had  to  stay  for  six  days,  in 
which  time  their  clothes  and  food  were  drenched,  and 
their  supply  of  dried  fish  exhausted  ;  but  the  men 
bore  these  trials  lightly  now  that  they  were  so  near 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  When  the  gale  ended  they  ex 
plored  the  country  for  a  good  place  to  establish  their 
winter  quarters.  The  captain  finally  decided  to 
locate  on  a  point  of  high  land  above  the  river  Neutel, 
well  beyond  the  highest  tide,  and  protected  by  a 
grove  of  lofty  pines.  Here  they  made  their  perma 
nent  camp,  which  was  called  Fort  Clatsop.  They 
built  seven  wooden  huts  in  which  to  spend  the  winter. 
They  lived  chiefly  on  elk,  to  which  they  added  fish 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK     55 

and  berries  in  the  early  spring.  A  whale  stranded  on 
the  beach  provided  them  with  blubber,  and  they 
found  salt  on  the  shore.  The  winter  passed  without 
any  unusual  experiences,  and  gave  the  captain  an 
opportunity  to  make  a  full  record  of  the  country 
through  which  he  had  passed,  and  of  the  Indian 
tribes  he  had  met. 

The  original  plan  was  to  remain  at  Fort  Clatsop 
until  April,  when  Lewis  expected  to  renew  his  stock 
of  merchandise  from  the  trading  vessels,  which  visited 
the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  every  spring  ;  but  as  the 
winter  passed  the  constant  rain  brought  sickness 
among  the  men,  and  game  grew  more  and  more 
scarce,  so  that  it  was  decided  to  make  an  earlier  re 
turn.  Before  they  did  this  Lewis  wrote  out  an  ac 
count  of  his  expedition,  and  arranged  to  have  this 
delivered  to  the  trading  vessels  when  they  should  ar 
rive,  and  in  this  way  the  news  of  his  discoveries 
would  not  be  lost  in  case  anything  should  happen  to 
his  own  party.  The  Indians  agreed  to  deliver  the 
packets,  and  one  of  the  messages,  carried  by  an 
American  trader,  finally  reached  Boston  by  way  of 
China  in  February,  1807,  some  six  months  after 
Lewis  himself  had  returned  to  the  East.  On  March 
24,  1806,  they  started  back  on  their  long  route  of 
four  thousand  one  hundred  and  forty-four  miles  to 
St.  Louis. 

Searching  for  fish,  they  found  the  Multonah  or 
Willamette  River,  and  Lewis  wrote  that  the  valley  of 
this  stream  would  furnish  the  only  desirable  place  of 


56  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

settlement  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Here  he 
found  rich  prairies,  plenty  of  fish  and  game,  unusual 
plants  of  various  sorts,  and  abundant  timber.  Soon 
they  reached  the  village  of  the  Walla  Walla  Indians, 
who  received  them  so  hospitably  that  the  captain 
said  of  all  the  Indians  they  had  met  since  leaving  the 
United  States  this  tribe  was  the  most  honest  and 
sincere.  With  twenty-three  horses,  and  Walla  Walla 
Indians  as  guides,  they  followed  a  new  road  up  the 
valley  of  the  Lewis  or  Snake  River,  which  saved 
them  eighty  miles  of  their  westward  route.  It  was 
still  too  early  to  cross  the  mountains,  and  they  camped 
near  the  place  where  they  had  trusted  their  thirty- 
eight  horses  to  their  Indian  friends  the  autumn  before. 
The  Indians  returned  the  horses  in  exchange  for 
merchandise,  and  Lewis  provided  them  with  food. 
In  all  these  meetings  the  squaw  wife  of  the  French 
trader  was  invaluable.  Usually  Lewis  spoke  in  Eng 
lish,  which  was  translated  by  one  of  his  men  into 
French  for  the  benefit  of  the  trapper  Chaboneau,  who 
repeated  it  in  the  tongue  of  the  Minnetarees  to  his 
wife ;  she  would  then  repeat  the  words  in  the  Sho- 
shone  tongue,  and  most  of  the  Indians  could  then 
understand  them,  or  some  could  repeat  them  to  the 
others  in  their  own  dialect. 

Early  in  June  they  tried  to  cross  the  mountains, 
but  the  snow  was  ten  feet  deep  on  a  level,  and  they 
had  to  abandon  the  attempt  until  late  in  the  month. 
They  finally  crossed,  and  found  their  trail  of  the 
previous  September.  At  this  point  the  party  divided 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK     57 

in  order  to  explore  different  parts  of  the  country. 
Lewis  took  a  direct  road  to  the  Great  Falls  of  the  Mis 
souri,  where  he  wished  to  explore  Maria's  River. 
Clark  went  on  to  the  head  of  the  Jefferson  River, 
where  he  was  to  find  the  canoes  that  they  had  hid 
den,  and  cross  by  the  shortest  route  to  the  Yellow 
stone  ;  and  the  two  parties  were  to  meet  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Yellowstone  River.  Lack  of  game 
prevented  Lewis  getting  far  into  the  country  along 
Maria's  River.  On  this  journey  he  fell  in  with  a 
band  of  Minnetarees,  and  some  of  them  tried  to  steal 
his  guns  and  horses.  The  only  real  fight  of  the 
journey  followed,  in  which  two  Indians  were  killed. 
He  then  continued  eastward,  and  on  August  yth 
reached  the  mouth  of  the  Yellowstone,  where  he 
found  a  note  telling  him  that  Clark  had  camped  a 
few  miles  below. 

In  the  meantime  Clark  had  explored  a  large  part 
of  the  valleys  of  the  Jefferson,  Gallatin,  and  Madison 
Rivers,  and  had  found  a  boiling-hot  spring  at  the 
head  of  the  Wisdom  River,  one  of  the  first  signs  of 
the  wonders  of  the  Yellowstone.  His  journey  was 
made  safely  and  comfortably,  although  at  one  place 
he  had  to  stop  to  build  fresh  canoes,  and  during  this 
delay  a  band  of  Indians  stole  twenty-four  of  his 
packhorses. 

The  united  party  descended  the  Missouri,  and 
found  that  other  explorers  were  already  following  in 
their  track.  They  met  two  men  from  Illinois  who 
had  pushed  as  far  west  as  the  Yellowstone  on  a 


58  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

hunting  trip,  and  back  of  them  they  heard  of  hunt 
ers  and  trappers  who  were  pushing  into  this  unex 
plored  region.  Travel  homeward  was  rapid,  and 
on  September  23,  1806,  the  expedition  arrived  at 
St.  Louis,  from  which  they  had  started  two  years 
and  four  months  before.  At  the  place  where  they 
parted  with  the  last  of  the  Minnetarees  they  said 
good-bye  to  Chaboneau,  his  Indian  wife,  and  child. 
The  squaw  had  been  of  the  greatest  service  to  them  , 
but  for  her  it  is  possible  that  the  expedition  might 
never  have  been  able  to  get  through  the  Shoshone 
country.  Lewis  offered  to  take  the  three  to  the 
United  States,  but  the  French  trader  said  that  he  pre 
ferred  to  remain  among  the  Indians.  He  was  paid 
five  hundred  dollars,  which  included  the  price  of  a 
horse  and  lodge  that  had  been  purchased  from  him. 
The  wonderful  journey  had  been  a  complete  suc 
cess.  The  explorers  had  passed  through  strange 
tribes  of  Indians,  dangers  from  hunger  and  hardship 
in  the  high  mountains,  the  desert,  and  the  plains, 
and  had  brought  back  a  remarkable  record  of  the 
scenes  and  people  they  had  met.  From  their  re 
ports  the  people  of  the  United  States  first  learned 
the  true  value  of  that  great  Louisiana  Territory, 
which  had  been  bought  for  such  a  small  price  in 
money,  but  which  was  to  furnish  homesteads  for 
thousands  of  pioneers.  The  work  begun  by  the 
brave  French  explorers  of  earlier  centuries  was 
brought  to  a  triumphant  close  by  these  two  native 
American  discoverers. 


Ill 

THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON  BURR 

THERE  is  a  small  island  in  the  Ohio  River,  two 
miles  below  the  town  of  Parkersburg,  that  is  still 
haunted  with  the  memory  of  a  strange  conspiracy. 
In  1805  the  island,  then  some  three  hundred  acres  in 
size,  belonged  to  an  Irish  gentleman,  Harman  Bien- 
nerhassett,  who  had  built  a  beautiful  home  there  and 
planted  fields  of  hemp.  For  a  time  he  and  his 
family  lived  there  in  great  content,  Blennerhassett 
himself  being  devoted  to  science  and  to  music,  but 
presently  he  felt  the  need  of  increasing  his  small 
fortune  and  looked  about  for  a  suitable  enterprise. 
Then  there  was  introduced  to  him  a  gentleman  from 
New  York,  a  very  well-known  man  by  the  name  of 
Aaron  Burr.  He  also  was  seeking  to  make  his  for 
tune,  and  he  took  Blennerhassett  into  his  confidence. 
Together  they  plotted  a  conspiracy.  They  started 
to  put  their  plans  into  action,  and  many  people 
called  them  patriots,  and  many  called  them  traitors. 
History  does  not  know  all  the  secrets  of  that  small 
island,  but  it  tells  a  curious  story  of  the  conspiracy. 

Aaron  Burr  was  a  very  talented  and  fascinating 
man,  but  he  was  a  born  adventurer.  At  this  time 
he  was  about  fifty  years  old.  He  had  fought  in  the 


6o  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

Revolution,  and  practiced  law  in  New  York  City, 
where  he  divided  honors  with  Alexander  Hamilton, 
the  most  brilliant  attorney  of  the  period.  He  had 
been  elected  a  senator,  and  then  had  become  a  can 
didate  for  President  of  the  United  States.  In  the 
election  of  1800  the  Electoral  College  cast  seventy- 
three  votes  apiece  for  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Aaron 
Burr,  and  these  two  candidates  led  all  the  others. 
As  there  was  a  tie,  the  choice  of  President  was 
thrown  into  the  House  of  Representatives,  and 
there  followed  a  long  and  bitter  fight.  Finally  Jef 
ferson  was  chosen  President,  and  Burr  Vice-Presi- 
dent.  In  the  long  campaign  Burr  made  many 
enemies,  chief  among  whom  were  the  powerful  New 
York  families  of  Clinton  and  Livingston.  These 
men  charged  him  with  being  a  political  trickster,  and 
won  most  of  his  followers  away  from  him  When 
Burr  became  a  candidate  for  Governor  of  New  York 
he  was  beaten,  and  his  defeat  was  made  more  bitter 
by  the  stinging  attacks  of  his  old  rival,  Alexander 
Hamilton. 

In  that  day  it  was  still  the  custom  for  gentlemen 
to  settle  questions  of  honor  on  the  dueling  field. 
Burr,  stung  by  Hamilton's  criticisms,  challenged 
him,  and  the  two  met  on  the  heights  of  Weehaw- 
ken,  overlooking  the  Hudson  River.  Here  Burr 
wounded  Hamilton  so  severely  that  the  latter  died  a 
few  days  later.  Hounded  by  Hamilton's  friends, 
the  luckless  Burr  now  found  himself  cast  out  by 
both  the  Federalists  and  Republicans,  and  with  no 


THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON  BURR      61 

political  future.  Yet  he  knew  that  he  had  unusual 
talents  for  leadership.  Still  filled  with  ambition  and 
in  great  need  of  money,  he  saw  that  there  was  little 
opportunity  for  him  at  home,  and  began  to  turn  his 
eyes  outside  of  the  Republic. 

The  western  world  was  then  a  wonderful  field  for 
daring  adventurers.  Thirteen  small  colonies  lying 
close  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean  had  less  than  twenty 
years  before  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  a  great  Euro 
pean  nation.  Men  had  already  pushed  west  to  the 
Mississippi,  and  settled  the  fertile  fields  beyond  the 
Alleghanies.  Across  the  great  "  Mother  of  Rivers  " 
lay  a  vast  tract  that  men  knew  little  about.  To  the 
south  lay  Spanish  colonies  and  islands.  The  Gulf  of 
Mexico  was  the  home  of  freebooters  and  pirates. 
In  Europe  a  man  of  the  people  named  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  was  carving  out  an  empire  for  himself, 
and  stirring  the  blood  of  all  ambitious  men.  Sol 
diers  of  fortune  everywhere  were  wondering 
whether  they  might  not  follow  in  Napoleon's  foot 
steps. 

It  is  hard  to  say  in  which  direction  Burr  was 
tempted  first.  He  wanted  to  hide  his  real  plans  not 
only  from  his  own  countrymen,  but  from  the  Eng 
lish,  French,  and  Spanish  agents  as  well.  He  first 
pretended  to  Anthony  Merry,  the  British  minister  at 
Washington,  that  he  intended  to  join  a  conspiracy 
to  start  a  revolution  in  the  Spanish  colonies,  in  the 
hope  of  turning  them  into  a  new  republic.  Mr. 
Merry  told  his  government  that  it  would  be  to  the 


62  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

advantage  of  England  if  Mr.  Burr's  plans  succeeded. 
But  even  then  Burr  was  working  on  a  different 
scheme.  He  thought  that  the  people  of  Louisiana, 
a  large  territory  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  which  had  only  lately  become  a  part  of  the 
United  States,  might  be  induced  to  separate  into  a 
new  nation  of  their  own.  He  needed  money  for  his 
plans,  and  so  he  kept  pointing  out  to  the  British 
minister  the  many  advantages  to  England  if  either 
the  Spanish  colonies  or  Louisiana  should  win  free 
dom.  A  third  plan  was  also  dawning  in  Burr's 
mind,  the  possibility  of  entering  Mexico  and  carving 
out  a  kingdom  there  for  himself.  So  he  began  by 
dealing  with  the  agents  of  different  countries,  trying 
to  get  money  from  each  for  his  own  secret  schemes. 

In  the  spring  of  1805  Burr  set  out  for  the  West. 
He  took  coach  for  the  journey  over  the  mountains 
to  Pittsburgh,  where  he  had  arranged  by  letter  to 
meet  General  James  Wilkinson,  the  governor  of  the 
new  territory  of  Louisiana.  Wilkinson  was  delayed, 
however,  and  so  Burr  embarked  in  an  ark  that  he 
had  ordered  built  to  sail  down  the  Ohio  River. 
After  several  days  on  the  water  he  reached  Blenner- 
hassett  Island  early  in  May.  The  owner  of  the 
island  was  away  from  home,  but  his  wife  invited 
Burr  to  their  house,  and  he  learned  from  her  that 
her  husband  was  looking  for  a  way  to  mend  his 
fortunes. 

Next  day  Burr  continued  his  journey  in  the  ark. 
He  reached  Cincinnati,  then  a  very  small  town  of 


THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON  BURR      63 

fifteen  hundred  people,  where  he  talked  over  his 
plans  with  several  friends.  From  Cincinnati  he 
went  to  Louisville,  and  from  there  rode  to  Frankfort. 
At  Nashville  he  was  the  guest  of  Andrew  Jackson, 
who  was  major-general  of  the  Tennessee  militia. 
Word  spread  about  that  Aaron  Burr  was  plotting  to 
free  Florida  and  the  West  Indies  from  Spanish 
rule,  and  the  liberty-loving  settlers  welcomed  him 
with  open  arms. 

Leaving  Andrew  Jackson,  Burr  floated  in  an  open 
boat  to  the  mouth  of  the  Cumberland  River,  where 
his  ark,  which  had  come  down  the  Ohio,  was  wait 
ing  for  him.  The  ark  made  its  first  stop  at  a  frontier 
post  called  Fort  Massac,  and  there  Burr  met  Gen 
eral  Wilkinson  of  Louisiana.  These  two  men  were 
real  soldiers  of  fortune.  They  had  fought  side  by 
side  at  the  walls  of  Quebec,  and  Wilkinson,  like 
many  another,  had  fallen  under  the  spell  of  Burr's 
charm.  They  probably  discussed  the  whole  situa 
tion  :  how  a  small  army  might  seize  Florida,  how  a 
small  navy  could  drive  the  Spaniards  from  Cuba, 
how  a  daring  band  of  frontiersmen  could  march 
from  Vera  Cruz  to  the  city  of  Mexico.  Wilkinson 
seemed  delighted  with  Burr's  schemes,  and  when  he 
left  he  provided  his  friend  with  a  large  barge 
manned  by  ten  soldiers  and  a  sergeant. 

In  this  imposing  vessel  Burr  sailed  on  down  the  Mis 
sissippi  to  New  Orleans,  and  on  June  25,  1805,  landed 
at  that  quaint  old  city.  It  was  already  a  place  of 
much  importance ;  seagoing  ships  and  thousands 


64  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

of  river  flatboats  docked  at  its  levees,  for  it  was  the 
chief  port  for  sending  goods  to  Mexico  and  the 
other  Spanish  colonies.  Burr  brought  letters  to 
many  prominent  people,  and  a  public  dinner  was 
given  in  his  honor.  The  visitor  had  been  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  was  said  to  be 
the  leader  of  a  band  of  mysterious  patriots.  En 
thusiasm  ran  high  in  New  Orleans  when  their  guest 
said,  as  he  had  already  announced  in  Tennessee, 
that  he  intended  to  devote  his  life  to  overthrowing 
all  Spanish  rule  in  America. 

Day  after  day  the  soldier  of  fortune  was  busy 
with  his  plans.  When  he  started  north  on  horse 
back  he  carried  with  him  the  fame  of  a  great  patriot. 
Wherever  he  stopped,  at  cabins,  at  villages,  or  cities, 
the  frontiersmen  wanted  to  shake  his  hand.  He  rode 
four  hundred  and  fifty  miles  through  the  wilderness 
from  Natchez  to  Nashville,  where  he  again  visited  An 
drew  Jackson,  who  promised  him  Tennessee  soldiers 
for  a  war  on  Spain.  At  St.  Louis  he  learned  that 
General  Zebulon  Pike  was  exploring  the  best  route 
over  the  plains  to  Santa  Fe,  and  many  letters  told 
him  that  the  time  was  ripe  to  settle  old  grudges 
with  the  borderers  of  Mexico.  Everything  seemed 
favorable  to  his  adventure.  Burr  had  only  to  decide 
where  he  would  strike  first.  He  was  back  in  the 
East  by  the  middle  of  November,  1805,  having 
filled  the  whole  country  with  rumors  of  wild  plots 
and  insurrections.  He  was  a  figure  of  mystery. 
People  whispered  that  Aaron  Burr  was  to  be  the 


THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON  BURR     65 

Washington  of  a  new  republic  in  the  West,  or  the 
king  of  a  country  to  be  carved  out  of  Mexico. 

By  the  summer  of  1806  Burr  knew  that  he  could 
not  get  money  from  England  to  further  his  plans. 
He  would  have  to  depend  on  his  own  countrymen  in 
any  attack  on  Mexico  or  Spain.  His  journey  had 
showed  him  that  many  of  them  were  eager  to  follow 
his  lead.  Troubles  were  daily  increasing  along  the 
borders  of  Florida  and  Mexico.  It  looked  easy  to 
take  an  army  into  Florida,  but  there  would  be  more 
profit  in  the  rich  country  to  the  southwest.  His 
friend,  General  Wilkinson,  had  just  been  sent  to 
drive  the  Mexicans  across  the  Sabine  River,  the 
western  boundary  of  Louisiana,  and  Burr  thought 
this  was  a  good  chance  to  go  west  again,  and  per 
haps  call  the  settlers  to  arms.  Men  he  trusted  started 
west  early  in  the  summer  of  1806,  and  Burr,  with  his 
daughter,  and  a  Colonel  De  Pestre,  who  had  fought 
in  the  French  Revolution,  and  a  few  friends  and 
servants,  set  out  in  August  for  their  meeting-place 
on  Blennerhassett  Island.  When  he  arrived  there 
he  was  warmly  welcomed  by  the  owner.  Burr 
showed  Blennerhassett  how  he  could  make  his  for 
tune  in  Mexico,  because  if  the  conspiracy  were  suc 
cessful  they  could  take  a  large  part  of  that  country 
for  themselves.  Fired  by  Burr's  story  the  men  on 
the  island  immediately  began  preparations.  They 
sent  to  the  town  of  Marietta  for  one  hundred  barrels 
of  pork,  and  contracted  to  have  fifteen  boats  de 
livered  at  the  island  the  following  December.  A 


66  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

kiln  was  built  near  Blennerhassett's  house  for  drying 
corn,  which  was  then  ground  into  meal,  and  packed 
for  shipping.  All  sorts  of  provisions  were  purchased, 
and  the  Blennerhassett  family  prepared  to  send  their 
household  goods  down  the  river.  Word  of  the  plans 
spread,  and  men  in  various  towns  near  the  Ohio 
made  ready  to  join  the  expedition.  When  the 
leader  should  send  out  his  messengers  recruits  would 
come  pouring  in. 

In  the  meantime  Burr  himself  had  left  the  little 
island  and  covered  a  wide  stretch  of  country.  He 
wanted  to  be  sure  of  Andrew  Jackson's  aid,  and  he 
found  that  fiery  warrior  as  ready  as  ever  to  fight 
Spaniard  or  Mexican  in  the  cause  of  liberty.  The 
general  still  thought  that  his  friend  Burr's  only  ob 
ject  was  to  free  all  of  North  America.  Eager  in  that 
cause,  Jackson  sent  word  to  the  Tennessee  militia, 
urging  them  to  be  ready  for  instant  duty  against  the 
Spaniards,  who,  he  said,  had  already  captured  sev 
eral  citizens  of  the  United  States,  had  cut  down  our 
flag,  had  driven  our  explorers  away  from  the  Red 
River,  and  had  taken  an  insulting  position  on  the 
east  bank  of  the  River  Sabine,  in  the  territory  of 
Orleans.  He  wrote  to  President  Jefferson  offering 
to  lead  his  Tennessee  militia  against  the  troops  of 
Spain.  A  large  part  of  the  country  expected  war  at 
once.  Burr,  for  his  own  purposes,  did  all  he  could 
to  inflame  this  warlike  feeling. 

In  October  the  chief  conspirator  met  his  daughter, 
Theodosia  Alston,  her  husband,  and  Blennerhassett 


THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON  BURR      67 

at  Lexington,  Kentucky.  He  now  arranged  to  buy 
a  tract,  known  as  the  Bastrop  lands,  which  included 
nearly  a  million  acres  in  northern  Louisiana  on  the 
Washita  River.  This  purchase  he  meant  to  use  as  a 
blind,  intending  to  settle  there  only  in  case  his  other 
plans  failed.  If  the  United  States  Government 
should  suspect  the  conspirators  of  plotting  against 
Mexico,  they  could  pretend  to  be  merely  settlers, 
armed  to  defend  themselves  in  case  the  Spaniards 
should  overrun  their  borders.  The  tract  would  be 
valuable  in  any  case,  because  of  the  rich  bottom 
lands  and  vast  forests,  and  made  a  splendid  base  for 
a  raid  into  the  Spanish  provinces. 

Recruits  were  added  daily  to  Burr's  forces.  He 
told  them  as  much  or  as  little  of  his  schemes  as  he 
thought  advisable.  To  some  he  said  that  he  was  a 
secret  agent  of  the  government,  to  others  that  he 
only  meant  to  start  a  new  pioneer  settlement.  If 
there  should  be  war  with  Spain  the  men  who  followed 
him  would  share  in  the  spoils,  if  victorious.  If  there 
was  no  war  they  would  be  ready  to  protect  the 
border  against  invaders. 

There  were  some  people,  however,  who  could  not 
get  over  their  distrust  of  Burr  because  of  what  he 
had  done.  The  mysterious  preparations  at  Blenner- 
hassett  Island  caused  some  uneasiness  in  the  neigh 
borhood,  and  on  October  6th  a  mass  meeting  of  the 
people  of  Wood  County,  Virginia,  was  held,  and 
the  military  preparations  on  the  island  were  de 
nounced.  Blennerhassett  was  away  at  the  time,  but 


68  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

his  wife,  hearing  of  the  meeting,  grew  uneasy,  and 
sent  her  gardener,  Peter  Taylor,  to  tell  her  husband 
this  news.  Taylor  found  the  conspirators  at  Lexing 
ton,  and  gave  them  Mrs.  Blennerhassett's  message. 
The  gardener  was  evidently  taken  into  his  master's 
confidence,  because  he  said  later  that  the  plan  was 
"  to  take  Mexico,  one  of  the  finest  and  richest  places 
in  the  whole  world."  He  added,  "  Colonel  Burr 
would  be  the  King  of  Mexico,  and  Mrs.  Alston, 
daughter  of  Colonel  Burr,  was  to  be  Queen  of  Mexico, 
whenever  Colonel  Burr  died.  .  .  .  Colonel  Burr 
had  made  fortunes  for  many  in  his  time,  but  none 
for  himself ;  but  now  he  was  going  to  make  some 
thing  for  himself.  He  said  that  he  had  a  great  many 
friends  in  the  Spanish  territory  ;  no  less  than  two 
thousand  Roman  Catholic  priests  were  engaged,  and 
all  their  friends  would  join,  if  once  he  could  get  to 
them  ;  that  the  Spaniards,  like  the  French,  had  got 
dissatisfied  with  their  government,  and  wanted  to 
swap  it." 

President  Jefferson  could  no  longer  overlook  the 
adventures  of  Burr  and  his  friends.  He  knew  that 
very  little  was  needed  to  kindle  the  flame  of  war  on 
the  Mexican  border.  But  he  had  his  hands  full  with 
foreign  affairs  ;  England  was  making  trouble  for 
American  sailors,  and  Napoleon  was  setting  the 
whole  world  by  the  ears.  So  the  busy  President 
wrote  to  his  agents  in  the  West  and  urged  them  to 
keep  a  secret  watch  over  Colonel  Burr  and  Blenner- 
hassett  Island. 


THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON  BURR     69 

War  with  Spain  almost  came  that  summer.  There 
were  many  disputed  boundary  lines  between  the 
United  States  and  the  Spanish  colonies.  The  Span 
ish  troops  in  Florida,  Texas,  and  Mexico  were  pre 
pared  for  an  attack  from  the  United  States,  and 
Spanish  agents  were  urging  Indian  tribes  to  rise 
against  the  white  men.  Men  protested  in  West 
ern  cities  and  towns.  The  people  of  Orleans  Ter 
ritory  were  afraid  that  Spain  was  going  to  try  to 
win  back  their  country  by  force  of  arms.  On  the 
4th  of  July,  1806,  the  people  of  New  Orleans  held  a 
great  patriotic  celebration,  and  in  the  evening  a  play 
called,  "  Washington ;  or  the  Liberty  of  the  New 
World,"  was  acted  to  a  huge  audience.  Even  the 
Creoles,  who  were  more  Spanish  than  Anglo-Saxon, 
were  eager  to  fight  against  the  old  tyranny  of  Spain. 

In  the  midst  of  this  war  excitement  word  came 
that  a  man  born  in  Venezuela,  named  Francesco 
Miranda,  had  sailed  from  New  York  to  free  his 
native  country  from  Spanish  rule.  Miranda  was 
looked  upon  as  a  hero  and  patriot  by  many  people 
in  the  United  States,  and  this  encouraged  Burr  and 
his  friends. 

There  were  in  1806  about  one  thousand  soldiers 
in  Texas,  which  was  then  a  province  of  Mexico. 
These  troops  were  ordered  to  cross  the  Sabine 
River,  which  formed  a  part  of  the  disputed  bound 
ary,  and  as  soon  as  they  did  cross  the  governor  of 
Louisiana  called  for  volunteers,  and  the  people  of 
Mississippi  Territory  prepared  to  march  to  the  aid 


70  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

of  New  Orleans.  The  meeting  place  of  the  volun 
teers  was  Natchitoches,  and  there  hundreds  of  coun 
trymen  came  flocking,  armed,  and  eager  to  defend 
Louisiana.  Everything  seemed  ready  for  Aaron 
Burr  to  launch  his  great  adventure.  But  at  this 
point  Burr's  former  friend,  General  James  Wilkinson, 
the  governor  of  Louisiana,  changed  his  mind  as  to 
the  wisdom  of  Burr's  schemes.  He  would  not  give 
the  order  to  the  volunteers  to  march  to  the  Mexican 
border,  but  waited,  hoping  that  President  Jefferson 
would  prevent  the  war  by  diplomacy,  or  that  the 
Spanish  troops  would  decide  to  retreat. 

On  September  2yth  a  great  crowd  in  Nashville 
hailed  Colonel  Burr  as  the  deliverer  of  the  South 
west,  and  Andrew  Jackson  proclaimed,  "  Millions 
for  defense  ;  not  one  cent  for  tribute  ;  "  and  at  the 
same  time  the  Mexican  General  Herrera  ordered  his 
troops  to  retreat  from  the  River  Sabine.  Danger  of 
war  was  over,  and  the  moment  the  flag  of  Spain  left 
the  Louisiana  shore,  Burr's  dream  of  an  empire  for 
himself  and  his  friends  vanished. 

General  Wilkinson  knew  that  the  government  in 
Washington  was  suspicious  of  Aaron  Burr's  plans, 
and  he  thought  that  his  name  was  included  among 
those  of  Burr's  friends.  Some  newspapers  had  even 
linked  their  names  together,  and  the  general,  know 
ing  perhaps  the  treachery  of  his  own  thoughts,  now 
decided  to  prove  his  patriotism  by  accusing  Aaron 
Burr  and  the  others  of  treason.  All  the  time  that  he 
was  making  a  treaty  with  the  Mexican  general  on 


THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON  BURR      71 

the  Texan  frontier  he  was  also  working  up  a  strong 
case  against  Burr.  He  saw  to  it  that  the  agents  put 
all  suspicion  on  the  shoulders  of  the  others,  and 
made  him  appear  as  the  one  man  who  had  tried  his 
best  to  protect  his  country.  He  intended  to  show 
that  not  only  was  he  not  a  traitor,  but  that  he  was 
able  to  unmask  traitors,  by  having  pretended  to  join 
with  them  earlier. 

In  his  sudden  eagerness  to  prevent  war  with  the 
Mexicans,  General  Wilkinson  made  terms  of  peace 
with  them,  which  proved  a  great  disadvantage  to 
the  United  States  at  a  later  date,  but  which  pleased 
the  peace  party  of  the  day.  He  met  the  Mexican 
general  at  the  very  time  when  Burr  and  his  allies 
were  ready  to  launch  their  fleet  of  boats  on  the 
Mississippi  River.  Then  Wilkinson  made  haste  to 
raise  the  cry  of  "  Treason  in  the  West,"  which  was 
to  echo  through  the  United  States  for  months,  and 
ruin  the  reputation  of  many  men. 

President  Jefferson  trusted  Wilkinson,  and  when 
he  heard  the  latter' s  charges  against  Burr  he  sent  a 
special  messenger  to  see  what  was  happening  at 
Blennerhassett  Island.  Before  the  messenger  reached 
the  Alleghany  Mountains,  however,  another  man  had 
accused  Burr  in  the  court  at  Frankfort,  Kentucky, 
of  having  broken  the  laws  of  the  country  in  starting 
an  expedition  against  Mexico.  Burr  said  that  he 
could  easily  answer  these  charges,  and  sent  a  mes 
sage  to  Blennerhassett,  telling  him  not  to  be  dis 
turbed.  He  went  to  the  court  at  Frankfort,  and 


72  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

when  the  man  who  had  accused  him  could  not 
bring  his  witnesses  the  matter  was  promptly  dropped. 
Burr  was  more  a  hero  than  ever  to  the  people  of 
Frankfort.  They  agreed  with  a  leading  newspaper 
that  said,  "  Colonel  Burr  has  throughout  this  busi 
ness  conducted  himself  with  the  calmness,  modera 
tion,  and  firmness  which  have  characterized  him 
through  life.  He  evinced  an  earnest  desire  for  a 
full  and  speedy  investigation — free  from  irritation  or 
emotion  ;  he  excited  the  strongest  sensation  of  re 
spect  and  friendship  in  the  breast  of  every  impartial 
person  present." 

Burr  then  went  back  to  Lexington,  and  continued 
raising  money  to  buy  a  fleet  of  boats.  Andrew 
Jackson  had  already  received  three  thousand  dollars 
in  Kentucky  for  this  purpose.  Blennerhassett  went 
on  enrolling  volunteers.  It  looked  as  if  Burr's  con 
duct  at  Frankfort  had  put  an  end  to  the  rumors  of 
treason. 

General  Wilkinson,  however,  was  still  anxious  to 
make  a  name  for  himself  as  a  great  patriot,  and  he 
kept  sending  alarming  messages  to  Washington. 
He  accused  his  former  friend  of  all  sorts  of  treason. 
It  was  also  perfectly  clear  that  a  large  number  of 
boats  were  being  gathered  on  the  Ohio  under  orders 
of  Burr  and  his  friends,  and  so  President  Jefferson 
sent  word  to  the  officers  at  Marietta  to  post  one 
hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  soldiers  on  the 
river  to  prevent  Burr's  fleet  sailing.  With  the  news 
of  this  order  people  in  the  West  began  to  suspect 


THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON  BURR      73 

their  former  hero,  and  even  some  of  his  old  allies 
grew  doubtful  of  his  patriotism. 

Wilkinson  increased  the  alarm  by  orders  he  gave 
in  New  Orleans  as  governor  of  Louisiana  Territory. 
He  began  to  make  military  arrests,  locking  up  all 
those  he  distrusted,  and  all  those  who  were  admirers 
of  Aaron  Burr.  He  had  gunboats  stationed  in  the 
river,  and  they  were  ordered  to  fire  on  Burr's  fleet  if 
it  ever  got  that  far,  and  he  refused  to  allow  any  boats 
to  ascend  the  Mississippi  without  his  express  per 
mission.  All  this  preparation  caused  great  excite 
ment  in  New  Orleans,  which  spread  through  the 
neighboring  country.  It  seemed  as  if  General 
Wilkinson  were  trying  to  force  the  people  to  believe 
there  was  some  great  conspiracy  on  foot. 

The  colonel  and  his  allies  tried  to  explain  that 
their  fleet  of  boats  was  simply  to  carry  settlers,  arms 
and  provisions  into  the  Bastrop  tract  of  land  that 
they  had  bought ;  but  by  now  nobody  would  believe 
them.  On  December  9,  1806,  the  boats  that  Blenner- 
hassett  had  been  gathering  on  the  Muskingum  River 
were  seized  by  order  of  the  governor  of  Ohio. 
Patrols  were  placed  along  the  Ohio  River,  and  the 
militia  called  out  to  capture  Blennerhassett  and  the 
men  with  him.  The  next  day  the  Virginia  militia 
declared  that  they  meant  to  find  out  the  secret  of 
Blennerhassett  Island.  The  owner  and  his  friend, 
Comfort  Tyler,  had  word  of  this,  and  at  once  pre 
pared  for  flight.  At  midnight  they  left  the  island 
and  started  down  the  Ohio  by  boat.  The  Virginia 


74  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

troops  arrived  to  find  the  place  deserted,  and,  leaving 
sentinels  there,  started  in  pursuit  of  Blennerhassett. 
The  next  day  the  sentries  captured  a  flatboat  with 
fourteen  boys  on  board,  who  were  coming  from 
Pittsburgh  to  join  Burr.  People  along  the  Ohio 
began  to  expect  attacks  from  Burr's  recruits. 
Cincinnati  was  especially  alarmed.  One  of  the  news 
papers  there  stated  that  three  of  Burr's  armed  boats 
were  anchored  near  the  city,  which  they  meant  to 
attack.  That  night  some  practical  joker  exploded  a 
bomb,  and  the  people  thought  that  Burr's  army  was 
firing  on  them.  The  citizens  armed,  and  the  militia 
was  called  out,  but  when  they  came  to  inspect  the 
boats  on  the  river  next  day  they  found  that  those 
they  thought  belonged  to  Burr  were  vessels  of  a 
Louisville  merchant  loaded  with  dry-goods.  No 
story  was  now  too  wild  to  be  believed  when  it  was 
attached  to  the  name  of  Burr  or  Blennerhassett. 

Burr  now  only  intended  to  sail  down  to  his  own 
lands.  On  December  2Oth  he  sent  word  to  Blenner 
hassett  that  he  would  be  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cumber 
land  River  on  the  twenty-third.  Two  days  later  he 
put  a  number  of  horses  on  one  of  his  boats,  and  with 
a  few  men  to  help  him,  floated  down  the  Cumber 
land  River  to  its  mouth,  where  Blennerhassett  and 
the  rest  of  their  party  were  waiting  for  him.  They 
joined  their  seven  boats  to  his  two  vessels,  and  had 
a  fleet  of  nine  ships  with  about  sixty  men  on  board. 
On  December  28th  they  sailed  down  the  Ohio,  and 
the  next  night  anchored  a  little  below  Fort  Massac. 


THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON  BURR     75 

Country  people  along  the  river  saw  the  flotilla 
pass,  and  sent  word  of  it  to  the  nearest  military  post. 
The  captain  there  stopped  all  ships,  but  found  noth 
ing  suspicious  on  any  of  them.  "  Colonel  Burr,  late 
Vice-President,"  the  officer  reported,  "  passed  this 
way  with  about  ten  boats  of  different  descriptions, 
navigated  with  about  six  men  each,  having  nothing 
on  board  that  would  even  suffer  a  conjecture  more 
than  that  he  was  a  man  bound  to  market.  He  has 
descended  the  river  toward  Orleans." 

On  the  last  day  of  1806  the  fleet  reached  the  broad 
waters  of  the  Mississippi  River.  Four  days  later 
they  dropped  anchor  at  Chickasaw  Bluffs,  now  the 
city  of  Memphis.  Again  officers  boarded  the  boats, 
and  after  examining  the  cargoes  allowed  them  to  go 
on  their  voyage.  On  January  loth  they  reached 
Mississippi  Territory,  and  here  they  found  the  ex 
citement  intense. 

The  fleet  was  now  in  territory  that  was  under  the 
charge  of  General  Wilkinson,  and  he  immediately 
sent  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  soldiers  from 
Natchez  to  prevent  Burr's  further  progress.  On 
January  i6th  two  officers  rowed  out  to  the  boats, 
and  were  received  pleasantly  by  Colonel  Burr,  who 
laughed  at  General  Wilkinson's  suspicions,  and, 
pointing  to  his  peaceful  flotilla,  asked  if  it  looked  as 
if  it  were  meant  for  war?  When  he  was  told  that 
the  soldiers  had  orders  to  stop  him,  he  answered  that 
he  was  willing  to  appear  in  court  at  any  time.  This 
satisfied  the  two  officers,  who  asked  him  to  ride  next 


76  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

day  to  the  town  of  Washington,  which  was  the 
capital  of  Mississippi  Territory,  and  appear  before 
the  court  there.  Burr  agreed,  and  early  next  morn 
ing  rode  to  Washington  with  the  two  officers  who 
had  called  on  him.  There  he  was  charged  with 
having  conspired  against  the  United  States  govern 
ment.  His  friends  on  the  river  remained  on  their 
boats,  waiting  for  his  return.  The  expedition  never 
went  any  farther. 

Burr  promised  to  stay  in  the  Territory  until  the 
charges  against  him  were  cleared  up.  His  charm 
of  manner  won  him  many  friends,  and  people  would 
not  believe  him  a  traitor.  When  the  grand  jury 
met  they  decided  that  Aaron  Burr  was  not  guilty  of 
treason.  The  judge,  however,  would  not  set  him 
free,  and  Burr  realized  that  General  Wilkinson  was 
using  all  his  power  against  him.  He  thought  that 
his  only  chance  of  safety  lay  in  defying  the  court, 
and  taking  the  advice  of  some  friends  fled  to  a 
hiding-place  near  the  home  of  Colonel  Osmun,  an 
old  acquaintance.  He  meant  to  leave  that  part  of 
the  country,  but  the  severe  weather  blocked  his  plans. 
Heavy  rains  had  swollen  all  the  streams,  and  he 
had  to  change  his  route.  He  set  out  with  one  com 
panion,  but  had  to  ask  a  farmer  the  road  to  the 
house  of  Colonel  Hinson.  The  farmer  suspected 
that  one  of  the  horsemen  was  Aaron  Burr,  and  knew 
that  a  large  reward  had  been  offered  for  his  capture. 
He  carried  his  news  to  the  sheriff,  and  then  to  the 
officers  at  Fort  Stoddert.  A  lieutenant  from  the  fort 


THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON  BURR      77 

with  four  soldiers  joined  the  farmer,  and,  mounting 
fast  horses,  they  rode  after  the  two  men.  Early  the 
next  morning  they  came  up  with  them.  The  lieu 
tenant  demanded  in  the  name  of  the  government  of 
the  United  States  whether  one  of  the  horsemen  was 
Colonel  Burr.  Aaron  Burr  admitted  his  name,  and 
was  put  under  arrest.  He  was  taken  to  the  fort,  and 
held  there  as  a  fugitive  from  justice. 

The  cry  of  "Treason  in  the  West"  had  been 
heard  all  over  the  country.  The  great  expedition 
against  Mexico  had  dwindled  to  a  small  voyage  to 
settle  certain  timber-lands.  The  formidable  fleet  was 
only  nine  ordinary  river  boats.  The  army  of  rebels 
had  shrunk  to  less  than  sixty  peaceful  citizens ; 
and  the  store  of  arms  and  ammunition  had  been 
reduced  to  a  few  rifles  and  powder-horns.  More 
over  Aaron  Burr  had  neither  attempted  to  fight  nor 
to  resist  arrest.  He  had  merely  fled  when  he 
thought  he  stood  little  chance  of  a  fair  trial.  Yet 
the  cry  of  treason  had  so  alarmed  the  country  that 
the  government  found  it  necessary  to  try  the  man 
who  had  so  nearly  defeated  Jefferson  for  the 
Presidency. 

Orders  were  sent  to  bring  Aaron  Burr  east.  After 
a  journey  that  lasted  twenty-one  days  the  prisoner 
was  lodged  in  the  Eagle  Tavern  in  Richmond, 
Virginia.  Here  Chief-Justice  Marshall  examined  the 
charges  against  Burr,  and  held  him  in  bail  to  appear 
at  the  next  term  of  court.  The  bail  was  secured, 
and  on  the  afternoon  of  April  ist  Burr  was  once 


78  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

more  set  at  liberty.  From  then  until  the  day  of  the 
trial  interest  in  the  case  grew.  Everywhere  people 
discussed  the  question  whether  Aaron  Burr  had  been 
a  traitor  to  his  country.  By  the  time  for  the  hearing 
of  the  case  feeling  against  him  ran  high.  When 
court  met  on  May  22,  1807,  Richmond  was  crowded 
with  many  of  the  most  prominent  men  of  the  time, 
drawn  by  the  charges  against  a  man  who  had  so  lately 
been  Vice-President. 

It  was  not  until  the  following  August  that  Colonel 
Burr  was  actually  put  on  trial.  The  question  was 
simply  whether  he  had  planned  to  make  war  against 
the  United  States.  There  were  many  witnesses,  led 
by  the  faithless  General  Wilkinson,  who  were  ready 
to  declare  that  the  purpose  of  the  meetings  at 
Blennerhassett  Island  was  to  organize  an  army  to 
divide  the  western  country  from  the  rest  of  the 
republic.  Each  side  was  represented  by  famous 
lawyers ;  and  the  battle  was  hard  fought.  In  the 
end,  however,  the  jury  found  that  Aaron  Burr  was 
not  guilty  of  treason.  No  matter  what  Burr  and 
Blennerhassett  and  their  friends  had  planned  to  do 
in  Mexico,  the  jury  could  not  believe  they  had  been 
so  mad  as  to  plot  a  war  against  the  United  States. 

Burr,  although  now  free,  was  really  a  man  without 
a  country.  He  went  to  England  and  France,  and  in 
both  countries  engaged  in  plans  for  freeing  the 
colonies  of  Spain.  But  both  in  England  and  in 
France  the  people  looked  upon  him  with  suspicion, 
remembering  his  strange  history.  At  the  end  of 


THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  AARON  BURR      79 

four  years  he  returned  to  the  United  States.  Here 
he  found  that  some  of  his  early  plans  were  coming 
to  fulfilment.  Revolts  were  breaking  out  in  Florida, 
in  Mexico,  and  in  some  of  the  West  Indies.  He  was 
allowed  no  part  in  any  of  these  uprisings.  Florida 
became  a  part  of  the  United  States,  and  in  time  Burr 
saw  the  men  of  Texas  begin  a  struggle  for  freedom 
from  Mexico.  When  he  read  the  news  of  this,  he 
exclaimed,  "  There  1  You  see  !  I  was  right !  I  was 
only  thirty  years  too  soon.  What  was  treason  in  me 
thirty  years  ago  is  patriotism  now  !  "  Later  he  was 
asked  whether  he  had  really  planned  to  divide  the 
Union  when  he  started  on  his  voyage  from  Blenner- 
hassett  Island.  He  answered,  "  No  ;  I  would  as  soon 
have  thought  of  taking  possession  of  the  moon,  and 
informing  my  friends  that  I  intended  to  divide  it 
among  them." 

Such  is  the  story  of  Aaron  Burr,  a  real  soldier  of 
fortune,  who  wanted  to  carve  out  a  new  country  for 
himself,  and  came  to  be  "a  man  without  a  country." 


IV 

HOW  THE  YOUNG  REPUBLIC  FOUGHT 
THE  BARBARY  PIRATES 

i 

LONG  after  pirates  had  been  swept  from  the  West 
ern  Ocean  they  flourished  in  the  Mediterranean  Sea. 
They  hailed  from  the  northern  coast  of  Africa,  where 
between  the  Mediterranean  and  the  desert  of  Sahara 
stretched  what  were  known  as  the  Barbary  States. 
These  states  were  Morocco,  Algeria,  Tunis,  Tripoli, 
and  the  tiny  state  of  Barca,  which  was  usually  in 
cluded  in  Tripoli.  Algeria,  or,  as  it  was  commonly 
called  from  the  name  of  its  capital,  Algiers,  was  the 
home  of  most  of  the  Mediterranean  pirates. 

There  was  hardly  a  port  in  the  whole  of  that  inland 
sea  that  had  not  seen  a  fleet  of  the  pirates'  boats 
sweep  down  upon  some  innocent  merchant  vessel, 
board  her,  overpower  the  crew,  and  carry  them  off  to 
be  sold  in  the  African  slave-markets.  Their  ships  were 
usually  square-rigged  sailing  vessels,  which  were 
commonly  called  galleons.  The  pirates  did  not  trust 
to  cannon,  and  the  peculiar  shape  of  the  ships  gave 
them  a  good  chance  for  hand-to-hand  fighting.  The 
dark-skinned  crew  would  climb  out  on  the  long 
lateen  yards  that  hung  over  their  enemies'  deck,  and 


THE  BARBARY  PIRATES  81 

drop  from  the  yards  and  from  the  rigging,  their 
sabers  held  between  their  teeth,  their  loaded  pistols 
stuck  in  their  belts,  so  that  they  might  have  free  use 
of  their  hands  for  climbing  and  clinging  to  ropes  and 
gunwales. 

Strange  as  it  seems,  the  great  countries  of  Europe 
made  no  real  effort  to  destroy  these  pirates  of  the 
Barbary  coast,  but  instead  actually  paid  them  bribes 
in  order  to  protect  their  crews.  The  larger  coun 
tries  thought  that,  as  they  could  afford  to  pay  the 
tribute  that  the  pirates  demanded,  and  their  smaller 
rivals  could  not,  the  pirates  might  actually  serve 
them  by  annoying  other  countries.  So  England  and 
France,  and  the  other  big  nations  of  Europe,  put  up 
with  all  sorts  of  insults  at  the  hands  of  these  Moorish 
buccaneers,  and  many  times  their  consuls  were  ill- 
treated  and  their  sailors  made  to  work  in  slave-gangs 
because  they  had  not  paid  as  much  tribute  as  the 
Moors  demanded. 

Many  an  American  skipper  fell  into  the  hands  of 
these  corsairs.  The  brig  Polly  of  New  bury  port, 
Massachusetts,  was  heading  for  the  Spanish  port  of 
Cadiz  in  October,  1793,  when  she  was  overhauled  by 
a  brig  flying  the  English  flag.  As  the  brig  came 
near  her  captain  hailed  the  Polly  in  English,  asking 
where  she  was  bound.  Meanwhile  the  brig  ran  close 
in  beside  the  Polly,  and  the  Americans  saw  a  large 
number  of  men,  Moors  by  the  look  of  their  beards 
and  dress,  spring  up  from  under  the  rail.  This  crew 
launched  a  big  boat,  and  nearly  one  hundred  men, 


82  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

armed  with  swords,  pistols,  spears,  and  knives,  were 
rowed  up  to  the  Polly.  The  Moors  sprang  on  board. 
The  Yankees  were  greatly  outnumbered,  and  were 
driven  into  the  cabin,  while  the  pirates  broke  open 
all  the  trunks  and  chests,  and  stripped  the  brig  of 
everything  that  could  be  moved.  The  prisoners 
were  then  rowed  to  the  Moorish  ship,  which  sailed 
for  Algiers.  There  they  were  landed  and  marched 
to  the  palace  of  the  Dey,  or  ruler  of  Algiers,  while 
the  people  clapped  their  hands,  shouted,  and  gave 
thanks  for  the  capture  of  so  many  "  Christian  dogs." 
They  were  put  in  prison,  where  they  found  other 
Americans,  and  nearly  six  hundred  Christians  of 
other  countries,  all  of  whom  were  treated  as  slaves. 
On  the  next  day  each  captive  was  loaded  with  chains, 
fastened  around  his  waist  and  joined  to  a  ring  about 
his  ankle.  They  were  then  set  to  work  in  rigging 
and  fitting  out  ships,  in  blasting  rocks  in  the  moun 
tains,  or  carrying  stones  for  the  palace  the  Dey  was 
building.  Their  lot  was  but  little  better  than  that  of 
the  slaves  of  olden  times  who  worked  for  the 
Pharaohs.  As  more  American  sailors  were  captured 
and  made  slaves  their  friends  at  home  grew  more 
and  more  eager  to  put  an  end  to  these  pirates,  and 
when  the  Revolution  was  over  the  young  Republic 
of  the  United  States  began  to  heed  the  appeals  for 
help  that  came  from  the  slave-markets  along  the 
Barbary  coast. 

The   Republic   found,  however,  that   so   long  as 
England   and   France  were   paying  tribute   to   the 


THE  BARBARY  PIRATES  83 

pirates  it  would  be  easier  for  her  to  do  the  same 
thing  than  to  fight  them.  The  American  Navy  was 
very  small,  and  the  Mediterranean  was  far  distant 
England  seemed  actually  to  be  encouraging  the 
pirates,  thinking  that  their  attacks  on  American 
ships  would  injure  the  country  that  had  lately  won 
its  independence.  So  the  United  States  made  the 
best  terms  it  could  with  the  rulers  of  Algiers, 
Morocco,  Tunis,  and  Tripoli,  and  paid  heavy  ransoms 
for  the  release  of  the  captives.  There  was  little  self- 
respect  or  honor  among  the  Moorish  chiefs,  how 
ever.  One  Dey  succeeded  another,  each  more 
greedy  than  the  last,  and  each  demanded  more 
tribute  money  or  threatened  to  seize  all  the  Ameri 
cans  he  could  lay  hands  upon.  The  consuls  had 
to  be  constantly  making  presents  in  order  to  keep 
the  Moors  in  a  good  humor,  and  whenever  the  Dey 
felt  the  need  of  more  money  he  would  demand  it  of 
the  United  States  consul,  and  threaten  to  throw  him 
in  prison  if  he  refused. 

This  state  of  affairs  was  very  unpleasant  for  free 
men,  but  for  a  number  of  years  it  had  to  be  put  up 
with.  When  Captain  Bainbridge  dropped  anchor  off 
Algiers  in  command  of  the  United  States  frigate 
George  Washington,  the  Dey  demanded  that  he 
should  carry  a  Moorish  envoy  to  Constantinople 
with  presents  for  the  Sultan  of  Turkey.  Bainbridge 
did  not  like  to  be  treated  as  a  messenger  boy  ;  but 
the  Dey  said,  "  You  pay  me  tribute,  by  which  you 
become  my  slaves.  I  have,  therefore,  a  right  to 


84  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

order  you  as  I  may  think  proper."  Bainbridge  had 
no  choice  but  to  obey  the  command,  or  leave  Ameri 
can  merchant  vessels  at  the  mercy  of  the  Moors,  and 
so  he  carried  the  Dey's  presents  to  the  Sultan. 

As  all  the  Barbary  States  throve  on  war,  in  that 
way  gaining  support  from  the  enemies  of  the  coun 
try  they  attacked,  one  or  the  other  was  constantly 
making  war.  In  May,  1801,  the  Pasha  of  Tripoli  de 
clared  war  against  the  United  States,  cut  down  the 
American  flagstaff  at  his  capital,  and  sent  out  his 
pirate  ships.  In  reply  the  United  States  ordered  a 
squadron  of  four  vessels  under  command  of  Com 
modore  Richard  Dale  to  sail  to  the  Mediterranean. 
This  squadron  did  good  service,  capturing  a  number 
of  the  galleys  of  Tripoli,  and  exchanging  Moorish 
prisoners  for  American  slaves.  But  the  pirates  were 
like  a  swarm  of  hornets  ;  they  stung  wherever  they 
got  a  chance,  and  as  soon  as  the  war-ships  were  out 
of  sight  they  would  steal  out  from  their  hiding-places 
to  terrorize  the  coast.  The  United  States  had  to 
keep  sending  squadrons  to  act  as  policemen.  When 
the  fleet  kept  together  the  Moors  had  proper  respect 
for  them,  but  once  the  ships  separated  they  became 
the  target  for  the  hornets. 

The  frigate  Philadelphia,  of  thirty-six  guns,  was 
detailed  in  October,  1803,  to  blockade  the  port  of 
Tripoli.  The  morning  after  she  reached  there  she 
saw  a  ship  inshore  preparing  to  sail  westward.  The 
frigate  gave  chase,  and  as  the  other  vessel  carried 
the  colors  of  Tripoli,  the  frigate  opened  fire.  As  she 


THE  BARBARY  PIRATES  85 

chased  the  Moor  the  Philadelphia  ran  on  a  shelving- 
rock  that  was  part  of  a  long  reef.  Her  crew  worked 
hard  to  get  her  off,  but  she  stuck  fast.  As  the  Moors 
on  shore  saw  the  plight  of  the  Philadelphia  they 
manned  their  boats,  and  soon  she  was  surrounded 
by  a  swarm  of  pirate  galleys.  The  galleys  sailed 
under  the  fire  of  the  frigate's  heavy  guns,  and  came 
up  to  close  quarters,  where  the  cannon  could  not 
reach  them.  The  Americans  were  helpless,  arid  by 
sunset  Commodore  Bainbridge  had  to  strike  his  flag. 
As  soon  as  he  surrendered  the  Moors  swarmed  over 
the  sides  of  his  ship,  broke  everything  they  could 
lay  their  hands  on,  stripped  officers  and  men  of  their 
uniforms,  and  tumbled  them  into  the  small  boats. 
The  prisoners  were  landed  at  night,  and  led  to  the 
castle  gate.  The  sailors  were  treated  as  slaves,  but 
the  officers  were  received  by  the  Pasha  in  the  great 
marble- paved  hall  of  his  palace,  where  that  ruler, 
dressed  in  silks  and  jewels,  and  surrounded  by  a 
gorgeous  court,  asked  them  many  questions,  and 
later  offered  them  supper.  But  the  favor  of  the 
Pasha  was  as  fickle  as  the  wind  ;  within  a  day  or  two 
he  was  treating  the  American  officers  much  as  he 
treated  his  other  Christian  captives,  and  the  crew, 
three  hundred  and  seven  in  number,  were  worked  as 
slaves.  Meantime  the  Moors,  using  anchors  and 
cables,  succeeded  in  pulling  the  Philadelphia  off  the 
reef,  and  the  frigate  was  pumped  out  and  made  sea 
worthy.  She  was  brought  into  the  harbor,  to  the. 
delight  of  the  Pasha  and  his  people  at  owning  so 


86  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

fine  a  war-ship.  The  loss  of  the  Philadelphia  was  a 
severe  blow,  not  only  to  American  pride,  but  to 
American  fortunes.  The  squadron  was  now  much 
too  small  for  service,  and  Bainbridge  and  his  crew 
were  hostages  the  United  States  must  redeem. 

It  fell  to  the  lot  of  Commodore  Preble  to  take 
charge  of  the  American  ships  in  the  Mediterranean, 
and  he  began  to  discuss  terms  of  peace  with  Tripoli 
through  an  agent  of  the  Pasha  at  Malta.  By  these 
terms  the  frigate  Philadelphia  was  to  be  exchanged 
for  a  schooner,  and  the  Moorish  prisoners  in  Treble's 
hands,  sixty  in  number,  were  to  be  exchanged  for  as 
many  of  the  American  prisoners  in  Tripoli,  and  the 
rest  of  the  American  captives  were  to  be  ransomed 
at  five  hundred  dollars  a  man.  Before  these  terms 
were  agreed  upon,  however,  a  more  daring  plan  oc 
curred  to  the  American  commodore,  and  on  Febru 
ary  3,  1804,  he  entrusted  a  delicate  task  to  Stephen 
Decatur,  who  commanded  the  schooner  Enterprise. 
Decatur  picked  a  volunteer  crew,  put  them  on  board 
the  ships  Siren  and  Intrepid,  and  sailed  for  Tripoli. 
They  reached  that  port  on  February  yth,  and  to 
avoid  suspicion  the  Intrepid  drew  away  from  the 
other  ship  and  anchored  after  dark  about  a  mile 
west  of  the  town.  A  small  boat  with  a  pilot  and 
midshipman  was  sent  in  to  reconnoiter  the  harbor. 
They  reported  that  the  sea  was  breaking  across  the 
western  entrance,  and  as  the  weather  was  threaten 
ing  advised  Decatur  not  to  try  to  enter  that  night. 
The  two  American  ships  therefore  stood  offshore, 


THE  BARBARY  PIRATES  87 

and  were  driven  far  to  the  east  by  a  gale.  The 
weather  was  so  bad  that  it  was  not  until  February 
1 6th  that  they  returned  to  Tripoli.  This  time  the 
Intrepid  sailed  slowly  toward  the  town,  while  the 
Siren,  disguised  as  a  merchantman,  kept  some  dis 
tance  in  the  rear. 

The  frigate  Philadelphia,  now  the  Pasha's  prize 
ship,  lay  at  anchor  in  the  harbor,  and  the  Intrepid 
slowly  drifted  toward  her  in  the  light  of  the  new 
moon.  No  one  on  ship  or  shore  realized  the  real 
purpose  of  the  slowly-moving  Intrepid.  Had  the 
men  at  the  forts  on  shore  or  the  watchman  at  the 
Pasha's  castle  suspected  her  purpose  they  could  have 
blown  her  from  the  water  with  their  heavy  guns. 

The  Intrepid  drifted  closer  and  closer,  with  her 
crew  hidden,  except  for  six  or  eight  men  dressed  as 
Maltese  sailors.  Decatur  stood  by  the  pilot  at  the 
helm.  When  the  little  ship  was  about  one  hundred 
yards  from  the  Philadelphia  she  was  hailed  and  or 
dered  to  keep  away.  The  pilot  answered  that  his 
boat  had  lost  her  anchor  in  the  storm,  and  asked 
permission  to  make  fast  to  the  frigate  for  the  night. 
This  was  given,  and  the  Moorish  officer  on  the 
Philadelphia  asked  what  the  ship  in  the  distance  was. 
The  pilot  said  that  she  was  the  Transfer,  a  vessel 
lately  purchased  at  Malta  by  the  Moors,  which  was 
expected  at  Tripoli  about  that  time.  The  pilot  kept 
on  talking  in  order  to  lull  the  Moors'  suspicions,  and 
meantime  the  little  Intrepid  came  close  under  the 
port  bow  of  the  Philadelphia.  Just  then  the  wind 


88  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

shifted  and  held  the  schooner  away  from  the  frigate, 
and  directly  in  range  of  her  guns.  Again  the  Moors 
had  a  chance  to  destroy  the  American  boat  and  crew 
if  they  had  known  her  real  object.  They  did  not 
suspect  it,  however.  Each  ship  sent  out  a  small 
boat  with  a  rope,  and  when  the  ropes  were  joined 
the  two  ships  were  drawn  close  together. 

When  the  vessels  were  almost  touching  some  one 
on  the  Philadelphia  suddenly  shouted,  "  Ameri 
canos!"  At  the  same  moment  Decatur  gave  the 
order  "  Board ! "  and  the  American  crew  sprang 
over  the  side  of  the  frigate  and  jumped  to  her  deck. 
The  Moors  were  huddled  on  the  forecastle.  Decatur 
formed  his  men  in  line  and  charged.  The  surprised 
Moors  made  little  resistance,  and  Decatur  quickly 
cleared  the  deck  of  them ;  some  jumped  into  the 
sea,  and  others  escaped  in  a  large  boat.  The  Ameri 
cans  saw  that  they  could  not  get  the  Philadel 
phia  safely  out  of  the  harbor,  and  so  quickly  brought 
combustibles  from  the  Intrepid,  and  stowing  them 
about  the  Philadelphia,  set  her  on  fire.  In  a  very 
few  minutes  she  was  in  flames,  and  the  Americans 
jumped  from  her  deck  to  their  own  ship.  It  took 
less  than  twenty  minutes  to  capture  and  fire  the 
Philadelphia. 

Decatur  ordered  his  men  to  the  oars,  and  the 
Intrepid  beat  a  retreat  from  the  harbor.  But  now 
the  town  of  Tripoli  was  fully  aroused.  The  forts 
opened  fire  on  the  little  schooner.  A  ship  com 
manded  the  channel  through  which  she  had  to  sail, 


THE  BARBARY  PIRATES  89 

but  fortunately  for  the  Intrepid  the  Moors'  aim  was 
poor,  and  the  only  shot  that  struck  her  was  one 
through  the  topgallantsail.  The  harbor  was 
brightly  lighted  now.  The  flames  had  run  up  the 
mast  and  rigging  of  the  Philadelphia,  and  as  they 
reached  the  powder  loud  explosions  echoed  over  the 
sea.  Presently  the  cables  of  the  frigate  burned,  and 
the  Philadelphia  drifted  ashore  and  blew  up.  In  the 
meantime  the  Intrepid  reached  the  entrance  safely, 
and  joining  the  Siren  set  sail  for  Syracuse. 

The  blowing  up  of  the  Philadelphia  was  one 
of  the  most  daring  acts  ever  attempted  by  the 
United  States  Navy,  and  won  Decatur  great  credit. 
It  weakened  the  Pasha's  strength,  and  kept  his 
pirate  crews  in  check.  Instead  of  making  terms 
with  the  Moorish  ruler,  the  United  States  decided 
to  attack  his  capital,  and  in  the  summer  of  1804, 
Commodore  Preble  collected  his  squadron  before 
Tripoli.  On  August  3d  the  fleet  approached  the 
land  batteries,  and  in  the  afternoon  began  to  throw 
shells  into  the  town.  The  Moors  immediately  opened 
fire,  both  from  the  forts  and  from  their  fleet  of 
nineteen  gunboats  and  two  galleys  that  lay  in  the 
harbor.  Preble  divided  his  ships,  and  ordered  them 
to  close  in  on  the  enemy's  vessels,  although  the 
latter  outnumbered  them  three  to  one.  Again 
Decatur  was  the  hero  of  the  fight.  He  and  his 
men  boarded  a  Moorish  gunboat  and  fought  her 
crew  hand-to-hand  across  the  decks.  He  captured 
the  first  vessel,  and  then  boarded  a  second.  De- 


90  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

catur  singled  out  the  captain,  a  gigantic  Moor,  and 
made  for  him.  The  Moor  thrust  at  him  with  a  pike, 
and  Decatur's  cutlass  was  broken  off  at  the  hilt. 
Another  thrust  of  the  pike  cut  his  arm,  but  the 
American  seized  the  weapon,  tore  it  away,  and 
threw  himself  on  the  Moor.  The  crews  were  fight 
ing  all  around  their  leaders,  and  a  Moorish  sailor 
aimed  a  blow  at  Decatur's  head  with  a  scimitar. 
An  American  seaman  struck  the  blow  aside,  and  the 
scimitar  gashed  his  own  scalp.  The  Moorish  captain, 
stronger  than  Decatur,  got  him  underneath,  and 
drawing  a  knife,  was  about  to  kill  him,  when  De 
catur  caught  the  Moor's  arm  with  one  hand,  thrust 
his  other  hand  into  his  pocket,  and  fired  his  re 
volver.  The  Moor  was  killed,  and  Decatur  sprang 
to  his  feet.  Soon  after  the  enemy's  crew  surren 
dered.  The  other  United  States  ships  had  been 
almost  as  successful,  and  the  battle  taught  the 
Americans  that  the  Barbary  pirates  could  be  beaten 
in  hand-to-hand  fighting  as  well  as  at  long  range. 

The  Pasha  was  not  ready  to  come  to  terms  even 
after  that  day's  defeat,  however,  and  on  August  jth 
Commodore  Preble  ordered  another  attack.  Again 
the  harbor  shook  under  the  guns  of  the  fleet  and 
the  forts,  and  at  sunset  Preble  had  to  withdraw.  To 
avoid  further  bloodshed  the  commodore  sent  a  flag 
of  truce  to  the  Pasha,  and  offered  to  pay  eighty 
thousand  dollars  for  the  ransom  of  the  American 
prisoners,  and  to  make  him  a  present  of  ten  thousand 
dollars  more.  The  Pasha,  however,  demanded  one 


THE  BARBARY  PIRATES  91 

hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  Preble  was 
not  willing  to  pay  that  amount.  So  later  in  August 
he  attacked  Tripoli  again.  Each  of  these  bombard 
ments  did  great  damage  to  the  city,  but  the  forts 
were  too  strong  to  be  captured.  The  blockading 
fleet,  however,  held  its  position,  and  on  September 
3d  opened  fire  again  in  the  last  of  its  assaults. 
In  spite  of  the  heavy  firing  the  Pasha  refused  to 
pull  down  his  flag. 

On  the  night  of  September  4th  a  volunteer  crew 
took  the  little  Intrepid  into  the  harbor.  She  was 
filled  with  combustibles,  and  when  she  was  close  to 
the  Moorish  ships  the  powder  was  to  be  fired  by  a 
fuse  that  would  give  time  for  the  crew  to  escape  in  a 
small  boat.  The  night  was  dark,  and  the  fleet  soon 
lost  sight  of  this  fire-ship.  She  took  the  right 
course  through  the  channel,  but  before  she  was 
near  the  Moors  she  was  seen  and  they  opened  fire 
on  her.  Then  came  a  loud  explosion,  and  the 
Intrepid,  with  her  crew,  was  blown  into  the  air. 
No  one  knows  whether  one  of  the  enemy's  shots  or 
her  own  crew  fired  the  powder.  This  was  the  great 
est  disaster  that  befell  the  United  States  Navy  during 
all  its  warfare  with  the  Barbary  pirates.  Soon  after 
Commodore  Preble  sailed  for  home,  though  most  of 
his  fleet  were  kept  in  the  Mediterranean  to  protect 
American  sailing  vessels. 

The  government  at  Washington,  tired  with  the 
long  warfare  in  the  Mediterranean,  soon  afterward 
ordered  the  consul  at  Algiers,  Tobias  Lear,  to  treat 


92  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

for  peace  with  the  Pasha.  A  bargain  was  finally 
struck.  One  hundred  Moors  were  exchanged  for  as 
many  of  the  American  captives,  and  sixty  thousand 
dollars  were  paid  as  ransom  for  the  rest.  June  4, 
1805,  the  American  sailors,  who  had  been  slaves 
for  more  than  nineteen  months,  were  released  from 
their  chains  and  sent  on  board  the  war-ship  Con 
stitution.  The  Pasha  declared  himself  a  friend  of  the 
United  States,  and  saluted  its  flag  with  twenty-one 
guns  from  his  castle  and  forts. 

In  the  Barbary  States  rulers  followed  one  another 
in  rapid  succession.  He  who  was  Dey  or  Pasha  one 
week  might  be  murdered  by  an  enemy  the  next,  and 
that  enemy  on  mounting  the  throne  was  always 
eager  to  get  as  much  plunder  as  he  could.  Treaties 
meant  little  to  any  of  them,  and  so  other  countries 
kept  on  paying  them  tribute  for  the  sake  of  peace. 

The  United  States  fell  into  the  habit  of  buying 
peace  with  Algiers,  Tripoli,  Morocco,  and  Tunis  by 
gifts  of  merchandise  or  gold  or  costly  vessels.  But 
the  more  that  was  given  to  them  the  more  greedy 
these  Moorish  rulers  grew,  and  so  it  happened  that 
from  time  to  time  they  sent  out  their  pirates  to  board 
American  ships  in  order  to  frighten  the  young  Re 
public  into  paying  heavier  tribute.  Seven  years 
later  the  second  chapter  of  our  history  with  the  Bar 
bary  pirates  opened. 

II 

The  brig  Edwin  of  Salem,  Massachusetts,  was 
sailing  under  full  canvas  through  the  Mediterranean 


THE  BARBARY  PIRATES  93 

Sea,  bound  out  from  Malta  to  Gibraltar,  on  August  25, 
1812.  At  her  masthead  she  flew  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 
The  weather  was  favoring,  the  little  brig  making 
good  speed,  and  the  Mediterranean  offered  no  dan 
gers  to  the  skipper.  Yet  Captain  George  Smith, 
and  his  crew  of  ten  Yankee  sailors,  kept  constantly 
looking  toward  the  south  at  some  distant  sails  that 
had  been  steadily  gaining  on  them  since  dawn. 
Every  stitch  of  sail  on  the  Edwin  had  been  set,  but 
she  was  being  overhauled,  and  at  this  rate  would  be 
caught  long  before  she  could  reach  Gibraltar. 

Captain  Smith  and  his  men  knew  who  manned 
those  long,  low,  rakish-looking  frigates.  But  the 
Edwin  carried  no  cannon,  and  if  they  could  not  out 
sail  the  three  ships  to  the  south  they  must  yield 
peaceably,  or  be  shot  down  on  their  deck.  Hour  af 
ter  hour  they  watched,  and  by  sunset  they  could  see 
the  dark,  swarthy  faces  of  the  leading  frigate's  crew. 
Before  night  the  Edwin  had  been  overhauled, 
boarded,  and  the  Yankee  captain  and  sailors  were  in 
irons,  prisoners  about  to  be  sold  into  slavery. 

They  had  been  captured  by  one  of  the  pirate  crews 
of  the  Dey  of  Algiers,  and  when  they  were  taken 
ashore  by  these  buccaneers  they  were  stood  up  in 
the  slave  market  and  sold  to  Moors,  or  put  to  work 
in  the  shipyards.  Other  Yankee  crews  had  met 
with  the  same  treatment. 

Now  the  United  States  had  been  paying  its  tribute 
regularly  to  the  pirates,  but  in  the  spring  of  1812  the 
Dey  of  Algiers  suddenly  woke  up  to  the  fact  that  the 


94  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

Americans  had  been  measuring  time  by  the  sun 
while  the  Moors  figured  it  by  the  moon,  and  found 
that  in  consequence  he  had  been  defrauded  of  almost 
a  half-year's  tribute  money,  or  twenty-seven  thousand 
dollars.  He  sent  an  indignant  message  to  To 
bias  Lear,  the  American  consul  at  Algiers,  threaten 
ing  all  sorts  of  punishments,  and  Mr.  Lear,  taking 
all  things  into  account,  decided  it  was  best  to  pay  the 
sum  claimed  by  the  Dey.  The  United  States  sent 
the  extra  tribute  in  the  shape  of  merchandise  by  the 
sailing  vessel  Alleghany  ;  but  the  Dey  was  now  in  a 
very  bad  temper,  and  declared  that  the  stores  were 
of  poor  quality,  and  ordered  the  consul  to  leave  at 
once  in  the  Alleghany ,  as  he  would  have  no  further 
dealings  with  a  country  that  tried  to  cheat  him.  At 
almost  the  same  time  he  received  a  present  from 
England  of  two  large  ships  filled  with  stores  of  war, 
— powder,  shot,  anchors,  and  cables.  He  immedi 
ately  sent  out  word  to  the  buccaneers  to  capture  all 
the  American  ships  they  could,  and  sell  the  sailors 
in  the  slave-markets.  The  Dey  of  Algiers  appeared 
to  have  no  fear  of  the  United  States. 

The  truth  of  the  matter  was  that  his  Highness 
the  Dey,  and  also  the  Bey  of  Tunis,  had  been  spoiled 
by  England,  who  at  this  time  told  them  confidently 
that  the  United  States  Navy  was  about  to  be  wiped 
from  the  seas.  English  merchants  assured  them 
that  they  could  treat  Captain  Smith  and  other 
Yankee  skippers  exactly  as  they  pleased,  since  Great 
Britain  had  declared  war  on  the  United  States,  and 


THE  BARBARY  PIRATES  95 

the  latter  country  would  find  herself  quite  busy  at 
home.  Algiers  and  Tripoli  and  Tunis,  remembering 
their  old  grudge  against  the  Americans,  assured 
their  English  friends  that  nothing  would  delight 
them  so  much  as  to  rid  the  Mediterranean  of  the 
Stars  and  Stripes. 

The  pirates  swept  down  on  the  brig  Edwin,  and 
laid  hands  on  every  American  they  could  find  in  the 
neighborhood.  They  stopped  and  boarded  a  ship 
flying  the  Spanish  flag,  and  took  prisoner  a  Mr. 
Pollard,  of  Virginia.  Tripoli  and  Tunis  permitted 
English  cruisers  to  enter  their  harbors,  contrary  to 
the  rules  of  war,  and  recapture  four  English  prizes 
that  had  been  sent  to  them  by  the  American  priva 
teer  Abellino.  When  the  United  States  offered  to 
pay  a  ransom  of  three  thousand  dollars  for  every 
American  who  was  held  as  a  prisoner  the  Dey  re 
plied  that  he  meant  to  capture  a  large  number  of 
them  before  he  would  consider  any  terms  of  sale. 

Our  country  was  young  and  poor,  and  our  navy 
consisted  of  only  seventeen  seaworthy  ships,  carry 
ing  less  than  four  hundred  and  fifty  cannon.  Eng 
land  was  indeed  "  Mistress  of  the  Seas,"  with  a 
great  war-fleet  of  a  thousand  vessels,  armed  with 
almost  twenty-eight  thousand  guns.  No  wonder 
that  the  British  consul  at  Algiers  had  told  the  Dey 
"  the  American  flag  would  be  swept  from  the  seas, 
the  contemptible  navy  of  the  United  States  annihi 
lated,  and  its  maritime  arsenals  reduced  to  a  heap  of 
ruins."  No  wonder  the  Dey  believed  him.  But  as 


96  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

a  matter  of  fact  the  little  David  outfought  the  giant 
Goliath  ;  on  the  Great  Lakes  and  on  the  high  seas 
the  Stars  and  Stripes  waved  triumphant  after  many 
a  long  and  desperate  encounter,  and  the  small  navy 
came  out  of  the  War  of  1812  with  a  glorious  record 
of  victories,  with  splendid  officers  and  crews,  and 
with  sixty-four  ships.  The  English  friends  of  the 
Barbary  States  had  been  mistaken,  and  Algiers, 
Tunis,  and  Tripoli  began  to  wish  they  had  not  been 
so  scornful  of  the  Yankees. 

It  was  time  to  show  the  pirates  that  Americans 
had  as  much  right  to  trade  in  the  Mediterranean  as 
other  people.  On  February  23,  1815,  a  few  days 
after  the  treaty  of  peace  with  England  was  pub 
lished,  President  Madison  advised  that  we  should 
send  a  fleet  to  Algiers.  Two  squadrons  were  or 
dered  on  this  service,  under  command  of  Commodore 
William  Bainbridge.  One  collected  at  Boston,  and 
the  other  at  New  York.  Commodore  Stephen  De- 
catur  was  in  charge  of  the  latter  division. 

Decatur's  squadron  was  the  first  to  sail,  leaving 
New  York  on  May  20,  1815.  He  had  ten  vessels  in 
all,  his  flag-ship  being  the  forty-four-gun  frigate 
Guerri£re>  and  his  officers  and  crew  being  all  sea 
soned  veterans  of  the  war  with  England.  The  fleet 
of  the  Dey  of  Algiers,  however,  was  no  mean  foe. 
It  consisted  of  twelve  vessels,  well  armed  and 
manned,  six  sloops,  five  frigates,  and  one  schooner. 
Its  admiral  was  a  very  remarkable  man,  one  of  the 
fierce  tribe  of  Kabyles  from  the  mountains,  Reis 


THE  BARBARY  PIRATES  97 

Hammida  by  name,  who  had  made  himself  the 
scourge  of  the  Mediterranean.  He  had  plenty  of 
reckless  courage ;  once  he  had  boarded  and  cap 
tured  in  broad  daylight  a  Portuguese  frigate  under 
the  very  cliffs  of  Gibraltar,  and  at  another  time, 
being  in  command  of  three  Algerine  frigates,  had 
dared  to  attack  a  Portuguese  ship  of  the  line  and 
three  frigates,  in  face  of  the  guns  leveled  at  him 
from  the  Rock  of  Lisbon,  directly  opposite. 

The  city  of  Algiers  itself  was  one  of  the  best 
fortified  ports  on  the  Mediterranean.  It  lay  in  the 
form  of  a  triangle,  one  side  extending  along  the  sea, 
while  the  other  two  rose  against  a  hill,  meeting  at 
the  top  at  the  Casbah,  the  historic  fortress  of  the 
Deys.  The  city  was  guarded  by  very  thick  walls, 
mounted  with  many  guns,  and  the  harbor,  made  by 
a  long  mole,  was  commanded  by  heavy  batteries,  so 
that  at  least  five  hundred  pieces  of  cannon  could  be 
brought  to  bear  on  any  hostile  ships  trying  to  enter. 

Decatur's  fleet  was  only  a  few  days  out  of  New 
York  when  it  ran  into  a  heavy  gale,  and  the  wooden 
ships  were  badly  tossed  about.  The  Firefly,  a 
twelve-gun  brig,  sprung  her  masts,  and  had  to  put 
back  to  port.  The  other  ships  rode  out  the  storm, 
and  kept  on  their  course  to  the  Azores,  keeping  a 
sharp  watch  for  any  suspicious-looking  craft.  As 
they  neared  the  coast  of  Portugal  the  vigilance  was 
redoubled,  for  here  was  a  favorite  hunting-ground 
of  Reis  Hammida,  and  Decatur  knew  what  the 
Algerine  admiral  had  done  before  the  Rock  of  Lis- 


98  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

bon.  They  found  no  trace  of  the  enemy  here,  how 
ever.  At  Cadiz  Decatur  sent  a  messenger  to  the 
American  consul,  who  informed  him  that  three  Al- 
gerine  frigates  and  some  smaller  ships  had  been 
spoken  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  but  were  thought  to 
have  returned  to  the  Mediterranean. 

Decatur  wanted  to  take  the  enemy  by  surprise, 
and  so  sailed  cautiously  to  Tangier,  where  he  learned 
that  two  days  earlier  Reis  Hammida  had  gone 
through  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  in  the  forty-six-gun 
frigate  Mashuda.  The  American  captain  at  once 
set  sail  for  Gibraltar,  and  found  out  there  that  the 
wily  Algerine  was  lying  off  Cape  Gata,  having  de 
manded  that  Spain  should  pay  him  half  a  million 
dollars  of  tribute  money  to  protect  her  coast-towns 
from  attack  by  his  fleet. 

Lookouts  on  the  Guerriere  reported  to  Decatur 
that  a  despatch-boat  had  left  Gibraltar  as  soon  as 
the  American  ships  appeared,  and  inquiry  led  the 
captain  to  believe  the  boat  was  bearing  messages  to 
Reis  Hammida.  Other  boats  were  sailing  for  Al 
giers,  and  Decatur,  realizing  the  ease  with  which  his 
wily  opponent,  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  inland 
sea,  would  be  able  to  elude  him,  decided  to  give 
chase  at  once. 

The  fleet  headed  up  the  Mediterranean  June  I5th, 
under  full  sail.  The  next  evening  ships  were  seen 
near  shore,  and  Decatur  ordered  the  frigate  Mace 
donian  and  two  brigs  to  overhaul  them.  Early  the 
following  morning,  when  the  fleet  was  about  twenty 


THE  BARBARY  PIRATES  99 

miles  out  from  Cape  Gata,  Captain  Gordon,  of  the 
frigate  Constellation^  sighted  a  big  vessel  flying  the 
flag  of  Algiers,  and  signaled  "  An  enemy  to  the 
southeast." 

Decatur  saw  that  the  strange  ship  had  a  good 
start  of  his  fleet,  and  was  within  thirty  hours'  run  of 
Algiers.  He  suspected  that  her  captain  might  not 
have  detected  the  fleet  as  American,  and  ordered 
the  Constellation  back  to  her  position  abeam  of  his 
flag-ship,  gave  directions  to  try  to  conceal  the  identity 
of  his  squadron,  and  stole  up  on  the  stranger.  The 
latter  was  seen  to  be  a  frigate,  lying  to  under  small 
sail,  as  if  waiting  for  some  message  from  the  African 
shore  near  at  hand.  One  of  the  commanders  asked 
permission  to  give  chase,  but  Decatur  signaled  back 
"  Do  nothing  to  excite  suspicion." 

The  Moorish  frigate  held  her  position  near  shore 
while  the  American  ships  drew  closer.  When  they 
were  about  a  mile  distant  a  quartermaster  on  the 
Constellation,  by  mistake,  hoisted  a  United  States 
flag.  To  cover  this  blunder  the  other  ships  were 
immediately  ordered  to  fly  English  flags.  But  the 
crew  of  the  Moorish  frigate  had  seen  the  flag  on  the 
Constellation ,  and  instantly  swarmed  out  on  the 
yard-arms,  and  had  the  sails  set  for  flight.  They 
were  splendid  seamen,  and  almost  immediately  the 
frigate  was  leaping  under  all  her  canvas  for  Algiers. 
The  Americans  were  busy  too.  The  rigging  of  each 
ship  was  filled  with  sailors,  working  out  on  the  yards, 
the  decks  rang  with  commands,  and  messages  were 


ioo  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

signaled  from  the  flag-ship  to  the  captains.  Decatur 
crowded  on  all  sail,  fearing  that  the  Algerine  frigate 
might  escape  him  in  the  night  or  seek  refuge  in 
some  friendly  harbor,  and  the  American  squadron 
raced  along  at  top  speed,  just  as  the  Barbary  pirates 
had  earlier  chased  after  the  little  brig  Edwin,  of  Salem. 

Soon  the  Constellation,  which  was  to  the  south  of 
the  fleet  and  so  nearest  to  the  Moorish  frigate, 
opened  fire  and  sent  several  shots  on  board  the 
enemy.  The  latter  immediately  came  about,  and 
headed  northeast,  as  if  making  for  the  port  of  Car- 
thagena.  The  Americans  also  tacked,  and  gained 
by  this  manoeuvre,  the  sloop  Ontario  cutting  across 
the  Moor's  course,  and  the  Guerriere  being  brought 
close  enough  for  musketry  fire. 

As  the  flag-ship  came  to  close  quarters  the  Moors 
opened  fire,  wounding  several  men,  but  Decatur 
waited  until  his  ship  cleared  the  enemy's  yard-arms, 
when  he  ordered  a  broadside.  The  crew  of  the 
Algerine  frigate,  which  was  the  Mashuda,  were 
mowed  down  by  this  heavy  fire.  Reis  Hammida 
himself  had  already  been  wounded  by  one  of  the 
first  shots  from  the  Constellation.  He  had,  however, 
insisted  on  continuing  to  give  orders  from  a  couch 
on  the  quarter-deck,  but  a  shot  from  the  first  broad 
side  killed  him.  The  Guerriere 's  gun  crews  loaded 
and  fired  again  before  the  first  smoke  had  cleared  ; 
at  this  second  broadside  one  of  her  largest  guns  ex 
ploded,  killing  three  men,  wounding  seventeen,  and 
splintering  the  spar-deck. 


THE  BARBARY  PIRATES  101 

The  Moors  made  no  sign  of  surrender,  but  De- 
catur,  seeing-  that  there  were  too  few  left  to  fight, 
and  not  wishing  to  pour  another  broadside  into 
them,  sailed  past,  and  took  a  position  just  out  of 
range.  The  Algerines  immediately  tried  to  run  be 
fore  him.  In  doing  this  the  big  Mashuda  was 
brought  directly  against  the  little  eighteen-gun 
American  brig  Epervier,  commanded  by  John 
Downes.  Instead  of  sailing  away  Downes  placed 
his  brig  under  the  Moor's  cabin  ports,  and  by  back 
ing  and  filling  escaped  colliding  with  the  frigate 
while  he  fired  his  small  broadsides  at  her.  This  run 
ning  fire,  lasting  for  twenty-five  minutes,  finished 
the  Moor's  resistance,  and  the  frigate  surrendered. 

The  flag-ship,  the  Guerrtire,  now  took  charge  of 
the  Algerine  prize,  and  Decatur  sent  an  officer,  two 
midshipmen,  and  a  crew  on  board  her.  The  Mashuda 
was  a  sorry  sight,  many  of  her  men  killed  or  wounded, 
and  her  decks  splintered  by  the  American  broadsides. 
The  prisoners  were  transferred  to  the  other  ships, 
and  orders  were  given  to  the  prize-crew  to  take  the 
captured  frigate  to  the  port  of  Carthagena,  under 
escort  of  the  Macedonian. 

Before  this  was  done,  however,  Decatur  signaled 
all  the  officers  to  meet  on  his  flag-ship.  In  the  cabin 
they  found  a  table  covered  with  captured  Moorish 
weapons, — daggers,  pistols,  scimitars,  and  yataghans. 
Decatur  turned  to  Commandant  Downes,  who  had 
handled  the  small  Epervier  so  skilfully.  "  As  you 
were  fortunate  in  obtaining  a  favorable  position  and 


102  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

maintained  it  so  handsomely,  you  shall  have  the  first 
choice  of  these  weapons,"  he  said.  Downes  chose, 
and  then  each  of  the  other  officers  selected  a  trophy 
of  the  victory.  That  evening  the  squadron,  leaving 
the  Mashuda  in  charge  of  the  Macedonian,  resumed 
its  hunt  for  other  ships  belonging  to  the  navy  of  the 
piratical  Dey. 

The  fleet  was  arriving  off  Cape  Palos  on  June  iQth 
when  a  brig  was  seen,  looking  suspiciously  like  an 
Algerine  craft.  When  the  Americans  set  sail  toward 
her,  the  stranger  ran  away.  Soon  she  came  to  shoal 
water,  and  the  frigates  had  to  leave  the  chase  to  the 
light-draught  Epervier,  Spark,  Torch,  and  Spitfire. 
These  followed  and  opened  fire.  The  strange  brig 
returned  several  shots,  and  was  then  run  aground 
by  her  crew  on  the  coast  between  the  watch-towers 
of  Estacio  and  Albufera,  which  had  been  built  long 
before  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  fishermen  and 
peasants  from  the  raids  of  pirates.  The  strangers 
took  to  their  small  boats.  One  of  these  was  sunk 
by  a  shot.  The  Americans  then  boarded  the  ship, 
which  was  the  Algerine  twenty-two-gun  brig  Estedio, 
and  captured  eighty-three  prisoners.  The  brig  was 
floated  off  the  shoals  and  sent  with  a  prize-crew  into 
the  Spanish  port  of  Carthagena. 

Decatur,  being  unable  to  sight  any  more  ships 
that  looked  like  Moorish  craft,  and  supposing  that 
the  rest  of  the  pirate  fleet  would  probably  be  mak 
ing  for  Algiers,  gave  commands  to  his  squadron  to 
sail  for  that  port.  He  was  determined  to  bring  the 


THE  BARBARY  PIRATES  103 

Dey  to  terms  as  quickly  as  possible,  and  to  destroy 
his  fleet,  or  bombard  the  city,  if  that  was  necessary. 
When  he  arrived  off  the  Moorish  town,  however,  he 
found  none  of  the  fleet  there,  and  no  apparent  prepa 
ration  for  war  in  the  harbor.  The  next  morning  he 
ran  up  the  Swedish  flag  at  the  mainmast,  and  a 
white  flag  at  the  foremast,  a  signal  asking  the  Swe 
dish  consul  to  come  on  board  the  flag-ship.  Mr. 
Norderling,  the  consul,  came  out  to  the  Guerriere, 
accompanied  by  the  Algerine  captain  of  the  port. 
After  some  conversation  Decatur  asked  the  latter 
for  news  of  the  Dey's  fleet.  "  By  this  time  it  is  safe 
in  some  neutral  port,"  was  the  assured  answer. 

"  Not  all  of  it,"  said  Decatur,  "  for  we  have  cap 
tured  the  Mashuda  and  the  Estedio" 

The  Algerine  could  not  believe  this,  and  told  the 
American  so.  Then  Decatur  sent  for  a  wounded 
lieutenant  of  the  Mashuda,  who  was  on  his  ship,  and 
bade  him  confirm  the  statement.  The  Moorish 
officer  of  the  port  immediately  changed  his  tactics, 
dropped  his  haughty  attitude,  and  gave  Decatur  to 
understand  that  he  thought  the  Dey  would  be  will 
ing  to  make  a  new  treaty  of  peace  with  the  United 
States. 

Decatur  handed  the  Moor  a  letter  from  the  Presi 
dent  to  the  Dey,  which  stated  that  the  Republic 
would  only  agree  to  peace  provided  Algiers  would 
give  up  her  claim  to  tribute  and  would  cease  molest 
ing  American  merchantmen. 

The  Moor  wanted  to  gain  as  much  time  as  pos- 


104  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

sible,  hoping  his  fleet  would  arrive,  and  said  that  it 
was  the  custom  to  discuss  all  treaties  in  the  palace  on 
shore.  Decatur  understood  the  slow  and  crafty 
methods  of  these  people,  and  answered  that  the 
treaty  should  be  drawn  up  and  signed  on  board  the 
Guerrttre  or  not  at  all.  Seeing  that  there  was  no 
use  in  arguing  with  the  American  the  Moorish  officer 
went  ashore  to  consult  with  the  Dey. 

Next  day,  June  3Oth,  the  captain  of  the  port  re 
turned,  with  power  to  act  for  his  Highness  Omar 
Pasha.  Decatur  told  him  that  he  meant  to  put  an 
end  to  these  piratical  attacks  on  Americans,  and  in 
sisted  that  all  his  countrymen  who  were  being  held 
as  slaves  in  Algiers  should  be  given  up,  that  the 
value  of  goods  taken  from  them  should  be  paid  them, 
that  the  Dey  should  give  the  owners  of  the  brig 
Edwin  of  Salem  ten  thousand  dollars,  that  all  Chris 
tians  who  escaped  from  Algiers  to  American  ships 
should  be  free,  and  that  the  two  nations  should  act 
toward  each  other  exactly  as  other  civilized  countries 
did.  Then  the  Moorish  officer  began  to  explain  and 
argue.  He  said  that  it  was  not  the  present  ruling  Dey, 
Omar  Pasha,  called  "Omar  the  Terrible"  because 
of  his  great  courage,  who  had  attacked  American 
ships;  it  was  Hadji  Ali,  who  was  called  the  "Tiger" 
because  of  his  cruelty,  but  he  had  been  assassinated 
in  March,  and  his  prime  minister,  who  succeeded 
him,  had  been  killed  the  following  month,  and  Omar 
Pasha  was  a  friend  of  the  United  States.  Decatur 
replied  that  his  terms  for  peace  could  not  be  altered. 


THE  BARBARY  PIRATES  105 

The  Moor  then  asked  for  a  truce  while  he  should 
go  ashore  and  confer  with  the  Dey.  Decatur  said  he 
would  grant  no  truce.  The  Algerine  besought  him 
to  make  no  attack  for  three  hours.  "  Not  a  minute  ! " 
answered  Decatur.  "  If  your  squadron  appears  be 
fore  the  treaty  is  actually  signed  by  the  Dey,  and 
before  the  American  prisoners  are  sent  aboard,  I  will 
capture  it ! " 

The  Moorish  captain  said  he  would  hurry  at  once 
to  the  Dey,  and  added  that  if  the  Americans  should 
see  his  boat  heading  out  to  the  Guerrttre  with  a  white 
flag  in  the  bow  they  would  know  that  Omar  Pasha 
had  agreed  to  Decatur' s  terms. 

An  hour  later  the  Americans  sighted  an  Algerine 
war-ship  coming  from  the  east.  Decatur  signaled  his 
fleet  to  clear  for  action,  and  gave  orders  to  his  own 
men  on  the  Guerriere.  The  fleet  had  hardly  weighed 
anchor,  however,  before  the  small  boat  of  the  port 
captain  was  seen  dashing  out  from  shore,  a  white 
flag  in  the  bow.  The  excited  Moor  waved  to  the 
crew  of  the  flag-ship.  As  soon  as  the  boat  was  near 
enough  Decatur  asked  if  the  Dey  had  signed  the 
treaty,  and  set  the  American  captives  free.  The 
captain  assured  him  of  this,  and  a  few  minutes  later 
his  boat  was  alongside  the  flag-ship,  and  the  Ameri 
cans,  who  had  been  seized  and  held  by  the  pirates, 
were  given  over  to  their  countrymen.  Some  of  them 
had  been  slaves  for  several  years,  and  their  delight 
knew  no  bounds. 

In  so  short  a  time  did  Decatur  succeed  in  bringing 


io6  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

the  Dey  to  better  terms  than  he  had  made  with  any 
other  country.  When  the  treaty  had  been  signed  the 
Dey's  prime  minister  said  to  the  English  consul, 
with  reproach  in  his  voice,  "  You  told  us  that  the 
Americans  would  be  swept  from  the  seas  in  six 
months  by  your  navy,  and  now  they  make  war  upon 
us  with  some  of  your  own  vessels  which  they  have 
taken."  As  a  fact  three  of  the  ships  in  Decatur's 
squadron  had  actually  been  won  from  the  English  in 
the  War  of  1812. 

The  Epervier,  commanded  by  Lieutenant  John 
Templer  Shubrick,  was  now  ordered  to  return  to  the 
United  States,  with  some  of  the  Americans  rescued 
from  Algiers.  The  fate  of  the  brig  is  one  of  the 
mysteries  of  the  sea.  She  sailed  through  the  Straits 
of  Gibraltar  July  12,  1815,  and  was  never  heard  of 
again.  She  is  supposed  to  have  been  lost  in  a  heavy 
storm  in  which  a  number  of  English  merchantmen 
foundered  near  the  West  Indies. 

Algiers  had  now  been  brought  to  her  knees  by 
Decatur,  and  he  was  free  to  turn  to  Tunis  and 
Tripoli.  The  rulers  of  each  of  these  countries  had 
been  misled  by  the  English  agents  exactly  as  had  the 
Dey  of  Algiers,  and  the  Bey  of  Tunis  had  allowed 
the  British  cruiser  Lyra  to  recapture  some  English 
prizes  that  the  American  privateer  Abellino  had 
taken  into  harbor  during  the  War  of  1812.  Like 
Algiers,  both  Tunis  and  Tripoli  were  well  protected 
by  fleets  and  imposing  forts.  Decatur,  however,  had 
now  learned  that  downright  and  prompt  measures 


THE  BARBARY  PIRATES  107 

were  the  ones  most  successful  in  dealing  with  the 
Moors,  who  were  used  to  long  delays  and  arguments. 
He  anchored  off  Tunis  on  July  26th,  and  immediately 
sent  word  to  the  Bey  that  the  latter  must  pay  the 
United  States  forty-six  thousand  dollars  for  allowing 
the  English  Lyra  to  seize  the  American  prizes,  and 
that  the  money  must  be  paid  within  twelve  hours. 

The  United  States  consul,  Mordecai  M.  Noah, 
carried  Decatur's  message  to  the  Bey.  The  Moorish 
ruler  was  seated  on  a  pile  of  cushions  at  a  window  of 
his  palace,  combing  his  long,  flowing  black  beard 
with  a  tortoise-shell  comb  set  with  diamonds.  Mr. 
Noah  politely  stated  Decatur's  terms. 

"  Tell  your  admiral  to  come  and  see  me,"  said  the 
Bey. 

"He  declines  coming,  your  Highness,"  answered 
the  consul,  "  until  these  disputes  are  settled,  which 
are  best  done  on  board  the  ship." 

The  Bey  frowned.  "  But  this  is  not  treating  me 
with  becoming  dignity.  Hammuda  Pasha,  of  blessed 
memory,  commanded  them  to  land  and  wait  at  the 
palace  until  he  was  pleased  to  receive  them." 

"Very  likely,  your  Highness,"  said  Mr.  Noah, 
14  but  that  was  twenty  years  ago." 

The  Bey  considered.  "  I  know  this  admiral,"  he 
remarked  at  length  ;  "  he  is  the  same  one  who,  in  the 
war  with  Sidi  Yusuf,  burned  the  frigate."  He  re 
ferred  to  Decatur's  burning  the  Philadelphia  in  the 
earlier  warfare. 

The  consul  nodded.     "  The  same." 


io8  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

"  Hum  ! "  said  the  Bey.  "  Why  do  they  send  wild 
young  men  to  treat  for  peace  with  old  powers  ? 
Then,  you  Americans  do  not  speak  the  truth.  You 
went  to  war  with  England,  a  nation  with  a  great 
fleet,  and  said  you  took  her  frigates  in  equal  fight. 
Honest  people  always  speak  the  truth." 

"  Well,  sir,  and  that  was  true.  Do  you  see  that 
tall  ship  in  the  bay  flying  a  blue  flag  ?  "  The  con 
sul  pointed  through  the  window.  "It  is  the 
Guerriere,  taken  from  the  British.  That  one  near 
the  small  island,  the  Macedonian,  was  also  captured 
by  Decatur  on  equal  terms.  The  sloop  near  Cape 
Carthage,  the  Peacock,  was  also  taken  in  battle." 

The  Bey,  looking  through  his  telescope,  saw  a 
small  vessel  leave  the  American  fleet  and  approach 
the  forts.  A  man  appeared  to  be  taking  soundings. 
The  Bey  laid  down  the  telescope.  "  I  will  accept 
the  admiral's  terms,"  said  he,  and  resumed  the 
combing  of  his  beard. 

Later  he  received  Decatur  with  a  great  show  of 
respect.  The  American  consul  was  also  honored, 
but  the  British  was  not  treated  so  well.  When  a 
brother  of  the  prime  minister  paid  the  money  over 
to  Decatur  the  Moor  turned  to  the  Englishman,  and 
said,  "  You  see,  sir,  what  Tunis  is  obliged  to  pay  for 
your  insolence.  You  should  feel  ashamed  of  the 
disgrace  you  have  brought  upon  us.  I  ask  you  if 
you  think  it  just,  first  to  violate  our  neutrality  and 
then  to  leave  us  to  be  destroyed  or  pay  for  your 
aggressions  ?  " 


THE  BARBARY  PIRATES  109 

Having  settled  matters  with  Tunis,  Decatur  sailed 
for  Tripoli,  and  there  sent  his  demands  to  the  Pasha. 
He  asked  thirty  thousand  dollars  in  payment  for  two 
American  prizes  of  war  that  had  been  recaptured  by 
the  British  cruiser  Paulina,  a  salute  of  thirty-one 
guns  to  be  fired  from  the  Pasha's  palace  in  honor  of 
the  United  States  flag,  and  that  the  treaty  of  peace 
be  signed  on  board  the  Guerriere. 

The  Pasha  pretended  to  be  offended,  summoned  his 
twenty  thousand  Arab  soldiers  and  manned  his  can 
non  ;  but  when  he  heard  how  Algiers  and  Tunis  had 
already  made  peace  with  Decatur,  and  saw  that  the 
Americans  were  all  prepared  for  battle,  he  changed 
his  tactics  and  sent  the  governor  of  Tripoli  to  the 
flag-ship  to  treat  for  peace.  The  American  consul 
told  Decatur  that  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  would 
make  good  the  lost  prize-ships,  but  that  the  Pasha 
was  holding  ten  Christians  as  slaves  in  Tripoli. 
Decatur  thereupon  reduced  the  amount  of  his  claim 
on  condition  that  the  slaves  should  be  released. 
This  was  agreed  to.  The  prisoners,  two  of  whom 
were  Danes,  and  the  others  Sicilians,  were  sent  to 
the  flag-ship,  and  by  way  of  compliment  the  band  of 
the  Guerriere  went  ashore  and  played  American  airs 
to  the  delight  of  the  people. 

The  American  captain  now  ordered  the  rest  of 
his  squadron  to  sail  to  Gibraltar,  while  the  Guerriere 
landed  the  prisoners  at  Sicily.  As  the  flag-ship 
came  down  the  coast  from  Carthagena  she  met  that 
part  of  the  Algerine  fleet  that  had  put  into  Malta 


no  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

when  the  Americans  first  arrived  in  the  Mediter 
ranean.  The  Guerriere  was  alone,  and  Decatur 
thought  that  the  Moors,  finding  him  at  such  a  dis 
advantage,  might  break  their  treaty  of  peace,  and 
attack  him.  He  called  his  men  to  the  quarter-deck. 
"My  lads,"  said  he,  "those  fellows  are  approaching 
us  in  a  threatening  manner.  We  have  whipped 
them  into  a  treaty,  and  if  the  treaty  is  to  be  broken 
let  them  break  it.  Be  careful  of  yourselves.  Let 
any  man  fire  without  orders  at  the  peril  of  his  life. 
But  let  them  fire  first  if  they  will,  and  we'll  take  the 
whole  of  them  1 " 

The  decks  were  cleared,  and  every  man  stood 
ready  for  action.  The  fleet  of  seven  Algerine  ships 
sailed  close  to  the  single  American  frigate  in  line  of 
battle.  The  crews  looked  across  the  bulwarks  at 
each  other,  but  not  a  word  was  said  until  the  last 
Algerine  ship  was  opposite.  "  Where  are  you  go 
ing?"  demanded  the  Moorish  admiral. 

"Wherever  it  pleases  me,"  answered  Decatur; 
and  the  Guerriere  sailed  on  her  course. 

Early  in  October  there  was  a  great  gathering  of 
American  ships  at  Gibraltar.  Captain  Bainbridge's 
fleet,  which  included  the  seventy-four-gun  ship  of  the 
line  Independence,  was  there  when  Decatur  arrived. 
The  war  between  the  United  States  and  England 
was  only  recently  ended,  and  the  presence  of  so 
many  ships  of  the  young  Republic  at  the  English 
Rock  of  Gibraltar  caused  much  talk  among  the 
Spaniards  and  other  foreigners.  The  sight  of  ships 


THE  BARBARY  PIRATES  in 

which  had  been  English,  but  which  were  now 
American,  added  to  the  awkward  situation,  and 
more  than  one  duel  was  fought  on  the  Rock  as  the 
result  of  disputes  over  the  War  of  1812. 

The  Dey  of  Algiers,  left  to  his  own  advisers  and 
to  the  whispers  of  men  who  were  jealous  of  the 
United  States'  success,  began  to  wish  he  had  not 
agreed  to  the  treaty  he  had  made  with  Decatur. 
His  own  people  told  him  that  a  true  son  of  the 
Prophet  should  never  have  humbled  himself  before 
the  Christian  dogs.  In  addition  the  English  gov 
ernment  agreed  to  pay  him  nearly  four  hundred 
thousand  dollars  to  ransom  twelve  thousand  prison 
ers  of  Naples  and  Sardinia  that  he  was  holding. 
Before  everything  else  the  Dey  was  greedy.  There 
fore  when  Captain  Oliver  Hazard  Perry,  the  hero  of 
the  battle  of  Lake  Erie,  brought  out  in  thefava  a 
copy  of  the  treaty  after  it  had  been  ratified  by  the 
United  States  Senate,  and  it  was  presented  to  the 
Dey  by  the  American  consul,  William  Shaler,  the 
ruler  of  Algiers  pretended  that  the  United  States 
had  changed  the  treaty,  and  complained  of  the  way 
in  which  Decatur  had  dealt  with  the  Algerine  ships. 
Next  day  he  refused  to  meet  Mr.  Shaler  again,  and 
sent  the  treaty  back  to  him,  saying  that  the  Ameri 
cans  were  unworthy  of  his  confidence.  Mr.  Shaler 
hauled  down  the  flag  at  his  consulate,  and  boarded 
the  Java. 

Fortunately  there  were  five  American  ships  near 
Algiers ;  and  these  were  made  ready  to  open  fire  on 


112  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

the  Moorish  vessels  in  the  harbor.  Plans  were  also 
made  for  a  night  attack.  The  small  boats  of  the 
fleet  were  divided  into  two  squadrons,  to  be  filled  by 
twelve  hundred  volunteer  sailors.  One  division  was 
to  make  for  the  water  battery  and  try  to  spike  its 
guns,  while  the  other  was  to  attack  the  batteries  on 
shore.  Scaling-ladders  were  ready,  and  the  men 
were  provided  with  boarding-spikes ;  but  shortly 
before  they  were  to  embark  the  captain  of  a  French 
ship  in  the  harbor  got  word  of  the  plan  and  carried 
the  information  to  the  Dey.  The  latter  was  well 
frightened,  and  immediately  sent  word  that  he 
would  do  whatever  his  good  friends  from  America 
wanted.  The  next  day  Mr.  Shaler  landed  again, 
and  the  Dey  signed  the  treaty. 

The  fleet  then  called  a  second  time  on  the  Bey  of 
Tunis,  who  had  been  grumbling  about  his  dissatis 
faction  with  Decatur's  treatment  He  too,  however, 
was  most  friendly  when  American  war-ships  poked 
their  noses  toward  his  palace.  After  that  the  Barbary 
pirates  let  American  merchantmen  trade  in  peace, 
although  an  American  squadron  of  four  ships  was 
kept  in  the  Mediterranean  to  see  that  the  Dey,  and 
the  Bey,  and  the  Pasha  did  not  forget,  and  go  back 
to  their  old  tricks. 

So  it  was  that  Decatur  put  an  end  to  the  African 
pirates,  so  far  as  the  United  States  was  concerned, 
and  taught  them  that  sailors  of  the  young  Republic, 
far  away  though  it  was,  were  not  to  be  made  slaves 
by  greedy  Moorish  rulers. 


THE    FATE  OF  LOVEJOY'S    PRINTING- 
PRESS 

EVER  since  the  thirteen  colonies  that  lay  along  the 
Atlantic  coast  had  become  a  nation  ambitious  men 
had  heard  the  call,  "  Go  West,  young  man,  go 
West  1 "  There  was  plenty  of  fertile  land  in  the 
country  beyond  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  and  it  was 
free  to  any  who  would  settle  on  it.  Adventure 
beckoned  men  to  come  and  help  in  founding  new 
states,  and  many,  who  thought  the  villages  of  New 
England  already  overcrowded,  betook  themselves 
to  the  inviting  West.  One  such  youth  was  Elijah 
Parrish  Lovejoy,  who  came  from  the  little  town  of 
Albion,  in  Maine,  and  who,  after  graduating  at 
Waterville  College,  had  become  a  school-teacher. 
This  did  not  satisfy  him  ;  he  wanted  to  see  more  of 
the  world  than  lay  in  the  village  of  his  birth,  and 
when  he  was  twenty-five  years  old,  in  May,  1827,  he 
set  out  westward. 

The  young  man  was  a  true  son  of  the  Puritans, 
brought  up  to  believe  in  many  ideas  that  were  al 
ready  often  in  conflict  with  the  views  of  men  of  the 
South  and  West.  He  reached  the  small  city  of  St. 
Louis,  in  the  pioneer  country  of  Missouri,  and  there 


114  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

he  found  a  chance  to  teach  school.  He  wrote  for 
several  newspapers  that  were  being  started,  and  in 
the  course  of  the  next  year  edited  a  political  paper 
that  was  urging  the  election  of  Henry  Clay  as  Pres 
ident.  His  interest  in  politics  grew,  and  he  might 
have  sought  some  public  office  himself  had  he  not 
suddenly  become  convinced  that  he  was  meant  to  be 
a  minister,  and  determined  to  prepare  for  that  work 
at  Princeton  Seminary.  When  he  returned  to  St. 
Louis  in  1833  his  friends  helped  him  to  found  a 
weekly  religious  paper  called  the  St.  Louis  Observer. 

The  editor  found  time  from  his  newspaper  work 
to  ride  into  the  country  and  preach  at  the  small 
churches  that  were  springing  up  at  every  crossroads. 
Missouri  was  more  southern  than  northern,  and  he 
saw  much  of  slave-owning  people.  It  was  not  long 
before  he  decided  that  negro  slavery  was  wrong, 
and  that  the  only  way  to  right  the  wrong  was  to  do 
away  with  it  altogether.  He  began  to  attack  slavery 
in  his  newspaper  and  in  his  sermons,  and  soon  sla 
very  men  in  that  part  of  Missouri  came  to  consider 
him  as  one  of  their  most  bitter  foes. 

Lovejoy  had  married,  and  expected  to  make  St. 
Louis  his  permanent  home.  But  neither  all  the  men 
who  were  interested  in  the  Observer,  nor  all  the 
members  of  his  church,  approved  of  his  arguments 
against  slaveholding,  and  when  he  was  away  at  a 
religious  meeting  the  proprietors  of  his  paper  issued 
a  statement  promising  that  the  editor  would  deal 
more  gently  with  the  question  of  slavery  in  the 


FATE  OF  LOVEJOY'S  PRINTING-PRESS      115 

future.  When  Lovejoy  returned  and  read  this  state 
ment  he  was  indignant ;  he  was  not  a  man  to  fear 
public  opinion,  and  he  attacked  his  enemies  more 
ardently  than  ever. 

The  law  of  the  land  permitted  slavery,  and  many 
of  the  chief  citizens  in  the  frontier  country  approved 
of  it.  They  hated  the  Abolitionists,  as  those  who 
wanted  to  do  away  with  slavery  were  called.  When 
men  were  suspected  of  having  helped  to  free  slaves, 
or  of  sheltering  runaway  negroes,  they  were  taken 
into  the  country  and  given  two  hundred  lashes  with 
a  whip  as  a  lesson.  Sometimes  Abolitionists  were 
tarred  and  feathered  and  ridden  out  of  town  ;  often 
their  houses  were  burned  and  their  property  des 
troyed.  Lovejoy  knew  that  he  might  have  to  face 
all  this,  but  the  spirit  of  the  Puritan  stock  from 
which  he  sprang  would  not  let  him  turn  from  his 
course. 

He  went  on  printing  articles  against  the  evils  of 
slavery,  he  denounced  the  right  of  a  white  man  to 
separate  colored  husbands  and  wives,  parents  and 
children,  brothers  and  sisters,  or  to  send  his  slaves 
to  the  market  to  be  sold  to  the  highest  bidder,  or  to 
whip  or  ill-use  them  as  if  they  had  no  feelings. 

There  was  danger  that  the  young  editor  would  be 
mobbed,  and  the  owners  of  the  Observer  took  the 
paper  out  of  his  charge.  Friends,  however,  who  be 
lieved  in  a  free  press,  bought  it,  and  gave  it  back  to 
him.  Waves  of  public  opinion,  now  for  Lovejoy, 
now  against  him,  swept  through  St.  Louis.  By  the 


ii6  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

end  of  1835  mobs  had  attacked  Abolitionists  in  Bos 
ton,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia,  and  the  news 
fanned  the  flames  of  resentment  against  them  in  Mis 
souri. 

Love  joy  had  good  reason  to  know  the  danger  of 
his  position.  One  September  day  he  went  out  to  a 
camp-meeting  at  the  little  town  of  Potosi.  He 
learned  that  two  men  had  waited  half  a  day  in  the 
village,  planning  to  tar  and  feather  him  when  he  ar 
rived,  but  he  was  late,  and  they  had  left.  When  he 
returned  to  St.  Louis  he  found  that  handbills  had 
been  distributed  through  the  city,  calling  on  the  peo 
ple  to  tear  down  the  office  of  the  Observer.  A 
newspaper  named  the  Missouri  Argus  urged  patriotic 
men  to  mob  the  New  England  editor.  Crowds, 
gathered  on  street  corners,  turned  dark,  lowering 
looks  upon  him  as  he  passed,  and  every  mail  brought 
him  threatening  letters.  He  would  not,  however, 
stop  either  writing  or  preaching  against  slavery. 

His  work  constantly  called  him  on  journeys  to 
small  towns,  sometimes  several  days'  ride  from  his 
home.  Late  in  1835  he  was  at  a  meeting  in  Marion 
when  reports  came  that  St.  Louis  was  in  an  uproar, 
that  men  who  opposed  slavery  were  being  whipped 
in  the  streets,  and  that  no  one  suspected  of  being  an 
Abolitionist  would  be  allowed  to  stay  there.  Love- 
joy  had  left  his  wife  ill  in  bed.  He  started  to  ride 
back,  a  friend  going  some  seventy  miles  with  him, 
half  of  the  journey.  The  friend  urged  him  not  to 
stay  in  St.  Louis,  pointing  out  that  his  young  and 


FATE  OF  LOVEJOY'S  PRINTING-PRESS     117 

delicate  wife  would  have  to  suffer  as  well  as  he. 
Travelers  they  met  all  warned  him  that  he  would  not 
be  safe  in  the  city.  He  rode  on  to  St.  Charles, 
where  he  had  left  his  wife.  He  talked  with  her,  and 
she  told  him  to  go  on  to  his  newspaper  office  if  he 
thought  duty  called  him  there. 

St.  Louis  was  all  excitement  and  alarm.  The 
newspapers  had  attacked  the  Observer  so  bitterly 
that  the  owners  had  stopped  printing  it.  A  mob  had 
planned  to  wreck  the  office,  but  had  postponed  the 
task  for  a  few  days.  Men  went  to  Lovejoy  and  told 
him  he  would  not  be  safe  in  the  streets  by  day  or 
night.  Even  the  men  of  his  church  would  not  stand 
by  him,  and  a  religious  paper  declared  "  that  they 
would  soon  free  the  church  of  the  rotten  sheep  in 
it,"  by  which  they  meant  Elijah  Lovejoy  and  others 
who  opposed  slavery. 

This  Yankee,  however,  like  many  others  who  had 
gone  to  that  border  country  in  the  days  when  bitter 
ness  ran  high,  had  a  heroic  sense  of  duty.  He  wrote 
and  printed  a  letter  to  the  people,  stating  that  men 
had  no  right  to  own  their  brothers,  no  matter  what 
the  law  might  say.  The  letter  caused  more  excite 
ment  than  ever. 

The  owners  of  the  Observer  went  to  Lovejoy  and 
requested  him  to  retire  as  its  editor.  For  two  days 
it  was  a  question  what  the  angry  mobs  would  do  to 
him.  Then  a  little  better  feeling  set  in.  Men  came 
to  him,  and  told  him  that  he  must  go  on  printing  his 
paper  or  there  would  be  no  voice  of  freedom  in  all 


Ii8  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

that  part  of  the  country.  A  friend  bought  the  news 
paper  from  its  owners,  and  urged  Lovejoy  to  write 
as  boldly  as  before.  This  friend,  however,  suggested 
that  he  should  move  the  newspaper  across  the  state 
line  to  Alton,  Illinois,  where  feeling  was  not  so  in 
tense.  Lovejoy  agreed,  and  set  out  for  Alton  ;  but 
while  he  was  preparing  to  issue  the  paper  there  the 
same  friend  and  others  wrote  him  that  his  pen  was 
so  much  needed  in  St.  Louis  that  he  must  come  back. 
He  did  so,  and  the  Observer  continued  its  existence 
in  St.  Louis  until  June,  1836. 

There  was  so  much  strife  and  ill  feeling,  however, 
in  Missouri  that  the  editor  decided  his  newspaper 
would  be  better  supported,  and  would  exert  more  in 
fluence,  in  Illinois.  Accordingly  he  arranged  to 
move  his  printing-press  to  the  town  of  Alton  in  July. 
Just  before  he  left  St.  Louis  he  published  severe 
criticisms  of  a  judge  of  that  city  who  had  sided  with 
slave-owners,  and  these  articles  roused  even  greater 
resentment  among  the  rabble  who  hated  Lovejoy's 
freedom  of  speech. 

If  some  of  the  people  of  Alton  were  glad  to  have 
this  fearless  editor  come  to  their  town,  many  were 
not.  Slavery  was  too  sore  a  subject  for  them  to 
wish  it  talked  about  publicly.  Many  people  all 
through  that  part  of  the  country  looked  upon  an 
Abolitionist  as  a  man  who  delighted  in  stirring  up 
ill  feeling.  Lovejoy  sent  his  printing-press  to  Alton 
by  steamboat,  and  it  was  delivered  at  the  wharf  on 
a  Sunday  morning,  about  daybreak.  The  steamboat 


FATE  OF  LOVEJOY'S  PRINTING-PRESS     119 

company  had  agreed  to  land  the  press  on  Monday, 
and  Lovejoy  refused  to  move  it  from  the  dock  on  the 
Sabbath.  Early  Monday  morning1  five  or  six  men 
went  down  to  the  river  bank  and  destroyed  the 
printing-press. 

This  was  the  young  editor's  welcome  by  the  law 
less  element,  but  next  day  the  better  class  of  citizens, 
thoroughly  ashamed  of  the  outrage,  met  and  pledged 
themselves  to  repay  Lovejoy  for  the  loss  of  his 
press.  These  people  denounced  the  act  of  the  mob, 
but  at  the  same  time  they  expressed  their  disapproval 
of  Abolitionists.  They  wanted  order  and  quiet,  and 
hoped  that  Lovejoy  would  not  stir  up  more  trouble. 

The  editor  bought  a  new  press  and  issued  his 
first  paper  in  Alton  on  September  8,  1836.  Many 
people  subscribed  to  it,  and  it  appeared  regularly 
until  the  following  August.  Lovejoy,  however, 
would  speak  his  mind,  and  again  and  again  declared 
that  he  was  absolutely  opposed  to  slavery,  and  that 
the  evil  custom  must  come  to  an  end.  This  led  to 
murmurs  from  the  slavery  party,  and  slanders  were 
spread  concerning  the  editor's  character.  All  free 
dom-loving  men  had  to  weather  such  storms  in  those 
days,  and  Lovejoy,  like  a  great  many  others,  stuck 
to  his  principles  at  a  heavy  cost. 

The  murmurs  and  slanders  grew.  On  July  8, 
1837,  posters  announced  that  a  meeting  would  be 
held  at  the  Market  House  to  protest  against  the 
articles  in  the  Alton  Observer.  The  meeting  con 
demned  Lovejoy's  writings  and  speeches,  and  voted 


120  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

that  Abolitionism  must  be  suppressed  in  the  town. 
This  was  the  early  thunder  that  heralded  the  ap 
proach  of  a  gathering  storm. 

The  Yankee  editor  showed  no  intention  of  giving 
up  his  stand  against  slavery,  but  preached  and  wrote 
against  it  at  every  opportunity.  As  a  result  threats 
of  destroying  the  press  of  the  Observer  were  heard  on 
the  streets  of  Alton,  and  newspapers  in  neighboring 
cities  encouraged  ill  feeling  against  the  editor.  The 
Missouri  Republic,  a  paper  printed  in  St.  Louis,  tried 
to  convince  the  people  of  Alton  that  it  was  a  public 
danger  to  have  such  men  as  Lovejoy  in  their  midst, 
and  condemned  the  Anti-Slavery  Societies  that  were 
being  formed  in  that  part  of  the  country.  Two  at 
tempts  were  made  to  break  into  his  printing-office 
during  the  early  part  of  the  summer,  but  each  time 
the  attackers  were  driven  off  by  Lovejoy's  friends. 

The  editor  went  to  a  friend's  house  to  perform  a 
marriage  ceremony  on  the  evening  of  August  21, 
1837.  His  wife  and  little  boy  were  ill  at  home,  and 
on  his  return  he  stopped  at  an  apothecary's  to  get 
some  medicine  for  them.  His  house  was  about  a 
half  mile  out  of  town.  As  he  left  the  main  street  he 
met  a  crowd  of  men  and  boys.  They  did  not  recog 
nize  him  at  once,  and  he  hurried  past  them  ;  but 
soon  some  began  to  suspect  who  he  was,  and 
shouted  his  name  to  the  rest.  Those  in  the  rear 
urged  the  leaders  to  attack  him,  but  those  in  front 
held  back  ;  some  began  to  throw  sticks  and  stones  at 
him,  and  one,  armed  with  a  club,  pushed  up  to  him, 


FATE  OF  LOVEJOY'S  PRINTING-PRESS     121 

denouncing  him  for  being  an  Abolitionist.  At  last  a 
number  linked  arms  and  pushed  past  him,  and  then 
turning  about  in  the  road  stopped  him.  There  were 
cries  of  "Tar  and  feather  him,"  "Ride  him  on  a 
rail,"  and  other  threats.  Lovejoy  told  them  they 
might  do  as  they  pleased  with  him,  but  he  had  a  re 
quest  to  make  ;  his  wife  was  ill,  and  he  wanted  some 
one  to  take  the  medicine  to  her  without  alarming 
her.  One  of  the  men  volunteered  to  do  this.  Then 
the  editor,  standing  at  bay,  argued  with  them. 
"  You  had  better  let  me  go  home,"  he  said ;  "  you 
have  no  right  to  detain  me ;  I  have  never  injured 
you."  There  was  more  denouncing,  jostling  and 
shoving,  but  the  leaders,  after  a  short  talk,  allowed 
Lovejoy  to  go  on  toward  his  house. 

Meantime,  however,  another  band  had  gone  to  the 
newspaper  office  between  ten  and  eleven  o'clock,  and, 
seeing  by  the  lights  in  the  building  that  men  were 
still  at  work  there,  had  begun  to  throw  stones  at  the 
windows.  A  crowd  gathered  to  watch  the  attack. 
The  mayor  and  some  of  the  leading  citizens  hurried 
to  the  building,  and  argued  with  the  ringleaders.  A 
prominent  merchant  told  them  that  if  they  would 
wait  until  the  next  morning  he  would  break  into  the 
newspaper  office  with  them,  and  help  them  take  out 
the  press  and  the  other  articles,  stow  them  on  a  boat, 
put  the  editor  on  top,  and  send  them  all  down  the 
Mississippi  River  together.  But  the  crowd  did  not 
want  to  wait.  The  stones  began  to  strike  some  of 
Lovejoy's  assistants  inside  the  building,  and  they  ran 


122  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

out  by  a  rear  door.  As  soon  as  the  office  was  empty 
the  leaders  rushed  in  and  broke  the  printing-press, 
type,  and  everything  else  in  the  building.  Next 
morning  the  slavery  men  in  Alton  said  that  the  Aboli 
tionist  had  been  silenced  for  the  time,  at  least.  They 
looked  upon  Lovejoy,  and  men  of  his  kind,  as  a 
thorn  in  the  flesh  of  their  peaceful  community. 

There  were  still  a  small  number  of  "  freedom-lov 
ing"  people  in  Alton,  however,  and  these  stood 
back  of  Elijah  Lovejoy.  Although  two  printing- 
presses  had  now  been  destroyed,  these  men  called  a 
meeting  and  decided  that  the  Observer  must  con 
tinue  to  be  printed.  Money  was  promised,  and  the 
editor  prepared  to  set  up  his  press  for  the  third  time. 
He  issued  a  short  note  to  the  public,  in  which  he 
said :  "  I  now  appeal  to  you,  and  all  the  friends  of 
law  and  order,  to  come  to  the  rescue.  If  you  will 
sustain  me,  by  the  help  of  God,  the  press  shall  be 
again  established  at  this  place,  and  shall  be  sustained, 
come  what  will.  Let  the  experiment  be  fairly  tried, 
whether  the  liberty  of  speech  and  of  the  press  is  to  be 
enjoyed  in  Illinois  or  not."  The  money  was  raised, 
and  the  dauntless  spokesman  for  freedom  sent  to 
Cincinnati  for  supplies  for  his  new  office. 

That  autumn  enemies  scattered  pamphlets  accus 
ing  Lovejoy  and  other  Abolitionists  of  various  crimes 
against  the  country.  Although  few  people  believed 
them,  the  circulars  increased  the  hostile  feelings,  and 
disturbed  many  of  the  editor's  friends.  Some  of  the 
latter  began  to  doubt  whether  the  Observer  ought  to 


FATE  OF  LOVEJOY'S  PRINTING-PRESS     123 

continue  its  stirring  articles.  Some  thought  it  should 
be  only  a  religious  paper.  But  Lovejoy  answered 
that  he  felt  it  was  his  duty  to  speak  out  in  protest 
against  the  great  evil  of  slavery.  He  finally  offered 
to  resign,  if  the  supporters  of  the  paper  thought  it 
best  for  him  to  do  so.  They  could  not  come  to  any 
decision,  and  so  let  him  continue  his  course. 

The  third  printing-press  arrived  at  Alton  on  Sep 
tember  2ist,  while  Lovejoy  was  away  attending  a 
church  meeting.  The  press  was  landed  from  the 
steamboat  a  little  after  sunset,  and  was  protected  by 
a  number  of  friends  of  the  Observer.  It  was  carted 
to  a  large  warehouse  to  be  stored.  As  it  passed 
through  the  street  some  men  cried,  "  There  goes  the 
Abolition  press  ;  stop  it,  stop  it !  "  but  no  one  tried  to 
injure  it.  The  mayor  of  Alton  declared  that  the 
press  should  be  protected,  and  placed  a  constable  at 
the  door  of  the  warehouse,  with  orders  to  remain  till 
a  certain  hour.  As  soon  as  this  man  left,  ten  or 
twelve  others,  with  handkerchiefs  tied  over  their  faces 
as  disguise,  broke  into  the  warehouse,  rolled  the 
press  across  the  street  to  the  river,  broke  it  into 
pieces,  and  threw  it  into  the  Mississippi.  The  mayor 
arrived  and  protested,  but  the  men  paid  no  attention 
to  him. 

Lovejoy's  business  had  called  him  to  the  town  of 
St.  Charles,  near  St.  Louis,  and  he  preached  there 
while  his  third  press  was  being  attacked.  After  his 
sermon  in  the  evening  he  was  sitting  chatting  with  a 
clergyman  and  another  friend  when  a  young  man 


124  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

came  in,  and  slipped  a  note  into  his  hand.     The  note 
read  : 

"  MR.  LOVEJOY  : 

"  Be  watchful  as  you  come  from  church  to 
night. 

A  FRIEND." 

Lovejoy  showed  the  note  to  the  two  other  men, 
and  the  clergyman  invited  him  to  stay  at  his  house. 
The  editor  declined,  however,  and  walked  to  his 
mother-in-law's  residence  with  his  two  friends.  No 
one  stopped  them,  and  when  they  came  to  the  house 
Lovejoy  and  the  clergyman  went  in,  and  sat  down  to 
chat  in  a  room  on  the  second  floor.  About  ten 
o'clock  they  heard  a  knock  on  the  door  at  the  foot  of 
the  stairs.  Mrs.  Lovejoy's  mother  went  to  the  door, 
and  asked  what  was  wanted.  Voices  answered, 
"  We  want  to  see  Mr.  Lovejoy ;  is  he  in  ?  "  The 
editor  called  down,  "  Yes,  I  am  here."  As  soon  as 
the  door  was  opened,  two  men  rushed  up-stairs,  and 
into  the  sitting-room.  They  ordered  Lovejoy  to  go 
down-stairs,  and  when  he  resisted,  struck  him  with 
their  fists.  Mrs  Lovejoy  heard  the  noise,  and  came 
running  from  her  room.  A  crowd  now  filled  the 
hall,  and  she  had  to  fight  her  way  through  them. 
Several  men  tried  to  drag  the  editor  out  of  the 
house,  but  his  wife  clung  to  him,  and  aided  by  her 
mother  and  sister  finally  persuaded  the  assailants  to 
leave. 

Exhausted  by  the  struggle,  Mrs.  Lovejoy  fainted. 


FATE  OF  LOVEJOY'S  PRINTING-PRESS     125 

While  her  husband  was  trying  to  help  her,  the  mob 
came  back,  and,  paying  no  attention  to  the  sick 
woman,  insisted  that  they  were  going  to  ride  Love- 
joy  out  of  town.  By  this  time  a  few  respectable 
citizens  had  heard  the  noise,  and  came  to  his  aid. 
A  second  time  the  rabble  was  driven  away  ;  but  they 
stayed  in  the  yard,  and  made  the  night  hideous  with 
their  threats  to  the  Abolitionist.  Presently  some  of 
the  men  went  up  to  Lovejoy's  room  the  third  time, 
and  one  of  them  gave  him  a  note,  which  demanded 
that  he  leave  St.  Charles  by  ten  o'clock  the  next 
morning.  Lovejoy's  friends  begged  him  to  send 
out  an  answer  promising  that  he  would  leave.  Al 
though  he  at  first  declined  to  do  this,  he  finally 
yielded  to  their  urging.  He  wrote,  "  I  have  already 
taken  my  passage  in  the  stage,  to  leave  to-morrow 
morning,  at  least  by  nine  o'clock."  This  note  was 
carried  out  to  the  crowd  on  the  lawn,  and  read  to 
them.  His  friends  thought  the  mob  would  scatter 
after  that,  and  they  did  for  a  time  ;  but  after  listen 
ing  to  violent  speeches  returned  again.  The  noise 
was  now  so  threatening  that  Lovejoy's  friends  begged 
him  to  fly  from  the  house.  His  wife  added  her 
pleadings  to  theirs,  and  at  last  he  stole  out  unnoticed 
by  a  door  at  the  rear.  He  hated  to  leave  his  wife  in 
such  a  dangerous  situation,  however,  and  so,  after 
waiting  a  short  time,  he  went  back.  His  friends  re 
proached  him  for  returning,  and  their  reproaches 
were  justified,  for,  like  hounds  scenting  the  fox,  the 
mob  menaced  the  house  more  noisily  than  ever. 


126  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

Lovejoy  saw  that  he  must  leave  again  in  order  to 
protect  his  wife  and  friends.  This  he  succeeded  in 
doing,  and  walked  about  a  mile  to  the  residence  of  a 
Major  Sibley.  This  friend  lent  him  a  horse,  and  he 
rode  out  of  town  to  the  house  of  another  friend  four 
miles  away.  Next  day  Mrs.  Lovejoy  joined  him, 
and  they  went  on  together  to  Alton. 

One  of  the  very  first  people  they  met  in  Alton 
was  a  man  from  St.  Charles  who  had  been  among 
those  who  had  broken  into  their  house  the  night 
before.  Mrs.  Lovejoy  was  alarmed  at  seeing  him  in 
Illinois,  because  the  mob  in  St.  Charles  had  declared 
that  they  were  going  to  drive  Lovejoy  out  of  that 
part  of  the  country.  In  order  to  quiet  her  fears  her 
husband  asked  some  friends  to  come  to  his  house, 
and  ten  men,  well  armed,  spent  the  next  night  guard 
ing  it,  while  he  himself  kept  a  loaded  musket  at  his 
side.  The  storm-clouds  were  gathering  about  his 
devoted  head. 

Even  the  leading  citizens  of  this  Illinois  town  now 
felt  that  it  was  Lovejoy's  own  fault  if  his  newspaper 
was  attacked.  They  hated  mobs,  but  most  of  them 
hated  Abolitionists  even  more.  If  he  would  stop 
attacking  slavery,  the  crowds  would  stop  attacking 
him.  It  was  evident  that  the  lawless  element  did 
not  intend  to  let  him  continue  to  print  his  news 
paper,  and  it  was  almost  as  clear  that  the  mayor 
and  authorities  were  not  going  to  protect  him. 
Three  times  now  his  press  had  been  destroyed. 

This  son  of  the  Puritans  was   not   to   be   driven , 


FATE  OF  LOVEJOY'S  PRINTING-PRESS     127 

from  his  purpose  by  threats  or  blows,  but  he  was 
forced  to  see  that  it  was  a  great  waste  of  money  to 
have  one  press  after  another  thrown  into  the  Missis 
sippi  River.  His  friends  in  the  town  of  Quincy 
urged  him  to  set  up  his  press  there,  and  he  felt 
much  inclined  to  do  so.  He  decided  to  wait,  how 
ever,  until  the  next  meeting  of  the  Presbyterian 
Synod,  when  he  would  learn  whether  the  men  of 
his  church  sided  with  him  or  not.  This  meeting 
ended  in  discussion,  breaking  up  along  the  old  lines 
of  those  who  were  friends  and  those  who  were 
enemies  of  slavery.  Some  of  the  members  had 
already  joined  Anti-Slavery  Societies,  while  others, 
although  they  were  opposed  to  mob-violence,  did 
not  approve  of  the  newspaper's  attack  on  slave- 
holding  citizens.  In  a  stirring  speech  Lovejoy  said 
that  they  were  to  decide  whether  the  press  should  be 
free  in  that  part  of  the  United  States.  He  ended 
with  an  appeal  for  justice.  "  I  have  no  personal 
fears,"  he  declared.  "  Not  that  I  feel  able  to  contest 
the  matter  with  the  whole  community.  I  know 
perfectly  well  I  am  not.  I  know,  sir,  that  you  can 
tar  and  feather  me,  hang  me  up,  or  put  me  into  the 
Mississippi,  without  the  least  difficulty.  But  what 
then?  Where  shall  I  go?  I  have  been  made  to 
feel  that  if  I  am  not  safe  at  Alton,  I  shall  not  be  safe 
anywhere.  I  recently  visited  St.  Charles  to  bring 
home  my  family,  and  was  torn  from  their  frantic 
embrace  by  a  mob.  I  have  been  beset  night  and 
day  at  Alton.  And  now  if  I  leave  here  and  go 


128  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

elsewhere,  violence  may  overtake  me  in  my  retreat, 
and  I  have  no  more  claim  upon  the  protection  of 
any  other  community  than  I  have  upon  this ;  and  I 
have  concluded,  after  consultation  with  my  friends, 
and  earnestly  seeking  counsel  of  God,  to  remain  at 
Alton,  and  here  to  insist  on  protection  in  the  exercise 
of  my  rights/' 

This  speech  made  a  great  impression  upon  its 
hearers.  The  words  were  those  of  a  man  who  had 
thought  long  upon  his  subject,  and  had  made  up  his 
mind  as  to  what  he  should  do.  He  expressed  no 
enmity  toward  the  men  who  had  treated  him  so  ill, 
and  he  did  not  complain  of  the  members  of  his  own 
church  who  were  lukewarm  in  their  support.  A 
man  who  was  present  said  that  Lovejoy's  speech 
reminded  him  of  the  words  of  St.  Paul  when  brought 
before  Festus,  or  of  Martin  Luther  speaking  to  the 
council  at  Worms. 

Having  decided  to  stay,  Lovejoy  ordered  his 
fourth  printing-press.  This  was  due  to  arrive  early 
in  November,  and  as  the  time  drew  near  there  was 
no  little  excitement  and  anxiety  among  the  friends  of 
peace  in  the  town.  Whenever  the  puff  of  a  steam 
boat  was  heard  men  hurried  to  the  banks  of  the 
Mississippi.  Some  meant  to  defend  the  press  from 
attack;  others  meant  to  hurl  it  into  the  river  as 
they  had  already  done  with  its  predecessors.  The 
press  had  an  eventful  journey.  The  first  plan  was 
to  land  it  at  a  place  called  Chippewa,  about  five 
miles  down  the  river,  and  then  carry  it  secretly  into 


FATE  OF  LOVEJOY'S  PRINTING-PRESS     129 

Alton.  But  the  roads  grew  bad,  and  this  plan  was 
abandoned.  The  press  reached  St.  Louis  on  Sun 
day  night,  November  5th,  and  it  was  arranged  that 
the  steamer  should  land  it  at  Alton  about  three  o'clock 
Tuesday  morning.  As  soon  as  this  was  known, 
Lovejoy  and  his  friend  Oilman  went  to  the  mayor 
and  told  him  of  the  threat  that  had  been  made 
to  destroy  the  press,  asking  him  to  appoint  special 
constables  to  protect  it.  The  town  council  voted 
that  Lovejoy  and  his  friends  be  requested  not  to 
persist  in  setting  up  an  Abolition  press  in  Alton, 
but  the  mayor  refused  to  sign  this  request. 

Monday  night  forty  or  fifty  citizens,  intent  on  see 
ing  that  the  press  was  protected,  gathered  at  the 
warehouse  of  Godfrey,  Oilman  and  Company  where 
the  press  was  to  be  stored.  Some  thirty  of  them 
formed  a  volunteer  company,  with  one  of  the  city 
constables  in  command.  They  were  armed  with 
rifles  and  muskets  loaded  with  buckshot  or  small 
balls.  The  editor  of  the  Observer  was  not  there. 
Only  a  night  or  two  before  his  house  had  been 
attacked,  and  his  sister  had  narrowly  escaped  serious 
injury.  So  he  arranged  with  a  brother,  who  was 
staying  with  him,  to  take  turns  standing  guard 
at  his  house  and  at  the  office. 

At  three  o'clock  the  steamboat  arrived  at  the 
dock.  Lovejoy's  enemies  had  stationed  sentinels 
along  the  river,  and  as  the  boat  passed  they  gave 
the  alarm  by  blowing  horns,  so  that  when  the  dock 
was  reached  a  large  crowd  had  gathered.  Some 


130  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

one  called  the  mayor,  and  he  came  down  to  the 
warehouse.  He  begged  the  volunteer  company  to 
keep  quiet,  and  said  he  himself  would  see  to  the 
safe  storing  of  the  press.  No  serious  trouble  fol 
lowed.  The  crowd  watched  the  stevedores  carry 
the  press  to  the  warehouse,  but  did  not  attack  it, 
except  to  throw  a  few  stones.  It  was  stood  in  the 
garret  of  the  stone  warehouse,  safe  from  the 
enemy. 

On  Tuesday  every  one  knew  that  the  "  Abolition 
press "  had  arrived,  and  Tuesday  night  the  same 
volunteers  went  down  to  the  warehouse  again. 
Everything  was  quiet,  and  by  nine  o'clock  all  but 
about  a  dozen  left  the  place.  Lovejoy  stayed  by  the 
press,  it  being  his  brother's  turn  to  guard  his  house. 
The  warehouse  stood  high  above  the  river,  apart 
from  other  buildings,  with  considerable  open  space 
on  the  sides  to  the  river  and  to  the  north. 

About  ten  o'clock  that  night  loafers  and  stragglers 
began  to  come  from  saloons  and  restaurants,  and 
gather  in  the  streets  that  led  to  the  warehouse. 
Some  thirty,  armed  with  muskets,  pistols,  and 
stones,  marched  to  the  door,  and  demanded  admit 
tance.  Mr.  Oilman,  one  of  the  owners  of  the  ware 
house,  standing  at  the  garret  door,  asked  what  they 
wanted.  The  leader  answered,  "  The  press."  Mr. 
Oilman  said  that  he  would  not  give  up  the  press. 
"  We  have  no  ill  feelings  toward  any  of  you,"  he 
added,  "  and  should  regret  to  harm  you  ;  but  we  are 
authorized  by  the  mayor  to  defend  our  property,  and 


FATE  OF  LOVEJOY'S  PRINTING-PRESS     131 


do  so  with  our  lives."  The  mob  leader  an 
swered  that  they  meant  to  have  the  press  at  any 
cost,  and  leveled  a  pistol  at  Mr.  Oilman,  who  drew 
back  from  the  door.  The  crowd  began  to  throw 
stones,  and  broke  a  number  of  windows.  Then  they 
fired  through  the  windows.  The  men  inside  re 
turned  the  shots.  One  or  two  of  the  mob  were 
wounded  ;  and  this  checked  them  for  a  time.  Soon, 
however,  others  came  with  ladders,  and  materials 
for  setting  fire  to  the  roof  of  the  building.  They 
kept  on  the  side  of  the  warehouse  where  there  were 
no  windows,  and  where  they  could  not  be  driven 
away  by  the  defenders.  It  was  a  moonlight  night, 
and  the  small  company  inside  the  building  did  not 
dare  go  out  into  the  open  space  in  front.  At  this 
point  the  mayor  appeared  and  carried  a  flag  of  truce 
through  the  rnob  to  Lovejoy's  friends,  asking  that 
the  press  be  given  up,  and  the  men  in  the  ware 
house  depart  peacefully  without  other  property  be 
ing  destroyed.  He  told  them  that  unless  they  sur 
rendered  the  mob  would  set  fire  to  the  warehouse. 
They  answered  that  they  had  gathered  to  defend 
their  property,  and  intended  to  do  it.  He  admitted 
that  they  had  a  perfect  right  to  do  this,  and  went 
back  to  report  the  result  of  his  mission  to  the  lead 
ers.  Outside  a  shout  went  up,  "  Fire  the  building, 
drive  out  the  Abolitionists,  burn  them  out  !  "  A 
great  crowd  had  gathered,  but  there  were  no  officers 
of  the  law  ready  to  defend  the  press. 

Ladders  were  placed  against  the  building,  and  the 


132  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

roof  was  set  on  fire.  Five  men  volunteered  to  go 
out  and  try  to  prevent  the  firing.  They  left  the 
building  by  the  riverside,  fired  at  the  men  on  the 
ladder,  and  drove  them  away.  The  crowd  drew 
back,  while  the  five  returned  to  the  store.  The  mob 
did  not  venture  to  put  up  their  ladder  again,  and 
presently  Lovejoy  and  two  or  three  others  opened  a 
door  and  looked  out.  There  appeared  to  be  no  one 
on  this  side,  and  Lovejoy  stepped  forward  to  recon- 
noiter.  Some  of  his  enemies,  however,  were  hidden 
behind  a  pile  of  lumber,  and  one  of  them  fired  a 
double-barreled  gun.  The  editor  was  hit  by  five 
balls.  He  turned  around,  ran  up  a  flight  of  stairs  in 
the  warehouse,  and  into  the  counting-room.  There 
he  fell,  dying  a  few  minutes  later. 

With  their  leader  killed  some  of  the  company 
wanted  to  give  up  the  battle,  while  others  insisted 
on  fighting  it  out.  They  finally  resolved  to  yield. 
A  clergyman  went  to  one  of  the  upper  windows  and 
called  out  that  Elijah  Lovejoy  had  been  killed  and 
that  they  would  give  up  the  press  if  they  might  be 
allowed  to  go  unmolested.  The  crowd  answered 
that  they  would  shoot  them  all  where  they  were. 
One  of  the  defenders  determined  to  go  out  at  any 
risk  and  make  terms.  As  soon  as  he  opened  the 
door,  he  was  fired  upon  and  wounded.  The  roof 
was  now  blazing,  and  one  of  their  friends  reached 
a  door  and  begged  them  to  escape  by  the  rear.  All 
but  two  or  three  laid  down  their  arms,  running  out 
at  the  southern  door,  and  fled  down  the  bank  of  the 


FATE  OF  LOVEJOY'S  PRINTING-PRESS     133 

river.  The  mob  fired  at  them,  but  only  one  was 
wounded.  The  crowd  rushed  into  the  warehouse, 
threw  the  press  out  the  window,  breaking  it  into 
pieces,  and  scattered  the  pieces  in  the  Mississippi. 
At  two  o'clock  they  had  disappeared,  having  accom 
plished  their  evil  purpose  of  preventing  a  "  free 
press"  in  Alton. 

Elijah  Lovejoy  was  only  thirty-five  years  old 
when  he  met  his  martyr's  death.  His  life  in  Mis 
souri  and  Illinois  had  been  one  constant  fight 
against  slavery,  and  for  liberty  of  speech.  His  Pur 
itan  ancestry  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  give  up 
the  battle  he  knew  to  be  right.  The  story  of  his 
heroic  struggle  and  death  aroused  lovers  of  liberty 
all  over  the  country,  and  newspapers  everywhere 
denounced  the  acts  of  the  mob  at  Alton.  Such  acts 
meant  that  men  could  not  speak  their  minds  on 
public  questions,  and  a  "  free  press "  had  been  one 
of  the  dearest  rights  of  American  citizens.  Men  in 
the  North  at  that  time  had  by  no  means  agreed  that 
slavery  must  be  abolished,  but  they  did  all  believe  in 
the  freedom  of  the  press.  For  that  cause  Lovejoy 
had  been  a  martyr. 

More  than  two  decades  were  to  pass  before  the 
question  of  slavery  was  to  be  settled  forever,  and  in 
the  years  between  1837  and  1860  many  men  of  the 
same  stock  and  stripe  as  Elijah  Lovejoy  were  to 
give  up  their  lives  in  heroic  defense  of  their  belief  in 
freedom.  He  was  one  of  the  first  of  a  long  line  of 
heroes.  His  voice  sounded  a  call  that  was  to  echo 


134  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

through  the  border  states  for  years  to  come,  inspir 
ing  others  to  take  up  his  cause.  A  freedom-loving 
country  should  place  among  its  noblest  sons  this 
dauntless  editor  and  preacher. 


,      VI 

HOW  MARCUS  WHITMAN  SAVED 
OREGON 

THE  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  whose  business 
was  to  buy  skins  and  furs  from  the  American  In 
dians,  had  located  a  trading-post  at  Fort  Walla 
Walla,  in  the  country  of  the  Cayuse  and  Nez  Perces 
Indians.  This  was  in  what  was  known  as  Oregon 
Territory  in  1842,  although  it  is  now  near  the  south 
east  corner  of  the  state  of  Washington.  Here  was 
a  very  primitive  settlement,  the  frame  houses  of  a 
few  white  men  and  the  tents  of  Indians.  Very  little 
effort  had  been  made  to  grow  grain  or  fruit  or  to 
raise  sheep  or  cattle,  since  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com 
pany  wanted  the  Indians  to  be  continually  on  the 
hunt  for  furs,  and  discouraged  them  from  turning 
into  farmers.  Besides  the  traders  and  the  Indians 
there  was  a  small  missionary  camp  near  at  hand, 
located  on  a  beautiful  peninsula  made  by  two 
branches  of  the  Walla  Walla  River.  This  place 
was  called  by  the  Indians  Wai-i-lat-pui,  meaning  the 
region  of  rye  grass.  Beyond  the  fertile  ground  on 
the  river's  banks  were  borders  of  timber-land,  and 
beyond  them  plains  stretching  to  the  foot-hills  of  the 
great  Blue  Mountains.  In  1842  this  wonderful 


136  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

country  was  free  to  any  who  cared  to  come  and  set 
tle  there,  but  as  yet  very  few  had  ventured  so  far 
into  the  wilderness. 

The  chief  man  at  the  missionary  camp,  Dr. 
Marcus  Whitman,  was  called  to  Fort  Walla  Walla  on 
the  first  day  of  October,  1842,  to  see  a  sick  man. 
He  found  a  score  or  so  of  traders  and  Hudson's  Bay 
clerks,  almost  all  Englishmen,  gathered  there,  and 
accepted  their  invitation  to  stay  to  dinner.  The  men 
were  a  genial  company,  and  had  already  taken  a 
liking  to  Whitman,  who  was  frank  and  amiable,  and 
an  interesting  story-teller.  Gradually  the  conversa 
tion  at  the  dinner  table  came  round  to  a  subject  that 
was  vastly  important  to  the  men  present,  although 
the  outside  world  seemed  to  be  paying  little  atten 
tion  to  it — to  which  country  was  this  great  territory 
of  Oregon  to  belong,  to  the  United  States  or  to 
England  ?  The  general  opinion  appeared  to  be 
that  under  the  old  treaties  it  would  belong  to  the 
country  that  settled  it  first. 

In  the  midst  of  the  discussion  there  was  the  sound 
of  hoof-beats  outside,  the  door  of  the  company's 
office  was  flung  open,  and  an  express  messenger 
ran  into  the  dining-room.  "  I'm  just  from  Fort 
Colville  ! "  he  cried.  "  A  hundred  and  forty  Eng 
lishmen  and  Canadians  are  on  the  march  to  settle 
here  ! " 

There  was  instant  excitement.  A  young  priest 
threw  his  cap  in  the  air,  shouting,  "  Hurrah  for 
Oregon — America's  too  late  ;  we've  got  the  coun- 


HOW  WHITMAN  SAVED  OREGON       137 

try ! "  The  traders  clapped  each  other  on  the 
shoulder,  and  made  a  place  for  the  messenger  at  the 
head  of  the  table.  As  he  ate  he  told  them  how  he 
had  ridden  from  the  post  three  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  up  the  Columbia  River  to  let  all  the  fur-traders 
know  that  the  English  were  on  the  way  to  colonize 
the  country. 

Marcus  Whitman  smiled,  and  pretended  to  enjoy 
the  celebration  ;  but  in  reality  he  was  already  con 
sidering  whether  he  could  not  do  something  to  save 
this  vast  and  fruitful  region  for  his  own  nation.  It 
was  an  enormous  tract  of  land,  of  untold  wealth, 
and  stretching  over  a  long  reach  of  the  Pacific  coast. 
As  he  considered,  Whitman  heard  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company's  men  grow  more  and  more  excited,  until 
they  declared  that  they  intended  to  take  possession 
of  all  the  country  west  to  the  Pacific  slope  the  follow 
ing  spring. 

The  missionary  had  been  expecting  this  struggle 
between  the  English  and  the  Americans  for  the 
ownership  of  Oregon,  but  had  not  thought  it  would 
come  to  a  head  quite  so  soon.  He  left  the  men  at 
Fort  Walla  Walla  as  early  as  he  could,  and  rode 
back  to  the  little  settlement  at  Wai-i-lat-pui.  There 
he  told  his  wife  and  friends  the  news  he  had  learned 
at  the  trading-post.  "  If  our  country  is  to  have 
Oregon,"  he  said,  "  there  is  not  a  day  to  lose." 

"  But  what  can  we  do  ?  "  the  others  asked  him. 

"  I  must  get  to  Washington  as  quick  as  I  can,  and 
let  them  know  the  danger." 


138  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

His  friends  understood  what  that  meant,  a  journey 
on  horseback  across  almost  an  entire  continent, 
through  hostile  Indians,  over  great  rivers  and  moun 
tain  ranges,  and  in  the  depths  of  winter.  Some  one 
pointed  out  that  under  the  rules  of  the  American 
Mission  Board  that  had  sent  them  into  the  far  west 
none  of  their  number  could  leave  his  post  without 
consent  from  the  headquarters  in  Boston.  "  Well," 
said  Whitman,  "  if  the  Board  dismisses  me,  I  will  do 
what  I  can  to  save  Oregon  to  the  country.  My  life 
is  of  but  little  worth  if  I  can  save  this  country  to  the 
American  people." 

His  wife,  a  brave,  patriotic  woman  who  had  shared 
his  hard  travels  westward  without  a  murmur,  agreed 
with  him  that  he  must  go.  They  all  insisted,  how 
ever,  that  he  should  have  a  companion.  "  Who  will 
go  with  me  ?  "  asked  Whitman.  In  answer  a  man 
who  had  only  lately  joined  the  small  encampment, 
Amos  L.  Lovejoy,  immediately  volunteered. 

Urging  upon  their  friends  the  need  of  keeping  the 
plan  a  secret  from  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  fur- 
traders,  the  two  men  quickly  prepared,  and  left  the 
camp  on  October  3d.  They  had  a  guide,  three 
pack-mules,  and  for  the  start  of  their  journey  an 
escort  of  a  number  of  Cayuse  braves,  men  of  an  In 
dian  tribe  that  was  not  large,  but  was  wealthy,  and 
that  seemed  to  have  taken  a  liking  to  Whitman  and 
his  friends  at  the  mission  settlement. 

The  leader  himself  had  one  fixed  idea  in  his  mind, 
to  reach  Washington  before  Congress  adjourned. 


HOW  WHITMAN  SAVED  OREGON       139 

He  was  convinced  that  only  through  his  account  of 
the  riches  of  Oregon  could  the  government  learn 
what  the  country  stood  in  danger  of  losing. 

The  little  company  got  a  good  start,  and  with  fresh 
horses,  riding  southeast  toward  the  border  of  what 
is  now  the  state  of  Idaho,  they  reached  Fort  Hall  in 
eleven  days.  Here  was  stationed  Captain  Grant, 
who  had  always  done  his  best  to  hinder  immigration 
into  Oregon,  and  had  induced  many  an  American 
settler  to  go  no  farther  westward.  He  knew  Whit 
man  of  old,  and  six  years  before  had  tried  to  stop 
his  expedition  to  the  Walla  Walla  River,  but  Whit 
man  had  overcome  his  arguments,  and  had  taken  the 
first  wagon  that  ever  crossed  the  Rocky  Mountains 
into  Oregon.  As  he  had  tried  to  prevent  Whitman 
from  going  west  before,  so  now  he  tried  to  prevent 
him  from  going  east.  He  told  him  that  the  Black- 
feet  Indians  had  suddenly  grown  hostile  to  all  white 
men,  that  the  Sioux  and  Pawnees  were  at  war  with 
each  other,  and  would  let  no  one  through  their 
country,  and  finally  that  the  snow  was  already 
twenty  feet  deep  in  the  passes  of  the  Rockies,  and 
travel  through  them  was  altogether  out  of  the  ques 
tion. 

This  information  was  far  from  reassuring,  and, 
backed  as  it  was  by  Captain  Grant's  entreaties  and 
almost  by  his  commands,  would  have  deterred  many 
a  man  from  plunging  into  that  winter  wilderness. 
Whitman,  however,  was  a  man  who  could  neither  be 
turned  aside  nor  discouraged.  His  answer  to  all 


140  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

protests  at  Fort  Hall  was  to  point  to  the  official 
permit  he  had  carried  west  with  him,  ordering  all 
officers  to  protect  and  aid  him  in  his  travels,  and 
signed  by  Lewis  Cass,  Secretary  of  War,  and  to 
declare  that  he  intended  to  push  on  east,  hostile 
Indians,  mountains,  and  blizzards  notwithstanding. 
Captain  Grant  saw  that  he  could  not  stop  Whitman, 
and,  much  to  his  chagrin,  had  to  let  him  pass  the 
fort. 

The  route  Whitman  had  plotted  out  lay  first  east 
and  then  south,  in  the  general  direction  of  the 
present  site  of  Salt  Lake  City.  His  objective  points 
were  two  small  military  posts,  Fort  Uintah  and 
Fort  Uncompahgra.  As  soon  as  the  two  men  left 
Fort  Hall  they  ran  into  terribly  cold  weather.  The 
deep  snow  kept  them  back,  and  they  had  to  pick  any 
shelter  they  could  find,  and  crawl  slowly  on,  some 
times  taking  a  day  to  cover  a  few  miles.  At  Fort 
Uintah  they  procured  a  guide  to  the  second  post, 
which  was  on  the  Grand  River,  and  at  the  latter 
point  a  Mexican  agreed  to  show  them  the  way  to 
Taos,  a  settlement  in  what  is  now  the  state  of  New 
Mexico.  So  far  their  southeasterly  course  had 
allowed  them  to  skirt  the  high  mountains,  but  here 
they  had  to  cross  a  range,  and  in  the  pass  ran  full 
into  a  terrific  snow-storm. 

It  was  impossible  to  go  forward  in  the  teeth  of 
that  gale,  so  Whitman,  Lovejoy,  and  their  guide 
looked  about  for  shelter.  They  found  a  rocky 
defile  with  a  mountain  shoulder  to  protect  it,  and 


HOW  WHITMAN  SAVED  OREGON       141 

led  their  horses  and  pack-mules  into  this  pocket. 
In  this  dark,  cold  place  they  stayed  for  ten  days, 
trying  each  morning  to  push  on  through  the  pass, 
and  being  blown  back  each  time.  On  the  eleventh 
day  the  wind  had  abated  somewhat,  and  they  tried 
again.  They  went  a  short  distance  when,  coming 
around  a  corner,  a  fresh  storm  broke  full  upon 
them,  blinding  and  freezing  the  men,  and  pelting 
the  animals  with  frozen  snow  so  that  they  were 
almost  uncontrollable. 

The  native  guide  now  admitted  that  he  was  no 
longer  sure  of  the  way,  and  refused  to  go  any 
farther.  Clearly  the  only  thing  to  be  done  was 
to  return  for  the  eleventh  time  to  the  sheltered  ravine. 
But  now  the  snow  had  drifted  across  their  trail,  and 
none  of  the  three  men  was  at  all  certain  of  the  road 
back.  Whitman  dismounted,  and  kneeling  in  the 
snow,  prayed  that  they  might  be  saved  for  the  work 
that  they  had  to  do. 

Meantime  the  guide  resolved  to  try  an  old  hunting 
expedient,  and  turned  one  of  the  lead  mules  loose. 
The  mule  was  confused  at  first,  and  stumbled  about, 
heading  one  way  and  then  another,  but  finally 
started  to  plunge  back  through  the  drifts  as  if  to  a 
certain  goal.  "  There,"  shouted  the  guide,  "  that 
mule  will  find  the  camp  if  he  can  live  long  enough 
in  this  storm  to  reach  it."  The  men  urged  their 
horses  after  the  plunging  beast,  and  slipping  and 
sliding  and  beating  their  half-frozen  mounts,  at  last 
came  around  the  mountain  shoulder  and  got  in  the 


142  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

lee  of  the  ravine.  That  bit  of  hunter's  knowledge 
and  that  mule  had  much  to  do  with  saving  the  great 
northwest  to  the  United  States. 

Once  safe  in  this  comparative  shelter  the  guide 
turned  to  Dr.  Whitman.  "  I  will  go  no  farther," 
said  he ;  "  the  way  is  impassable." 

Whitman  knew  that  the  man  meant  what  he  said, 
and  he  had  just  seen  for  himself  what  a  storm  could 
do  to  travelers,  but  he  said  as  positively  in  the 
ravine  as  he  had  already  said  in  the  comfortable 
protection  of  Fort  Hall,  "  I  must  go  on."  He  con 
sidered  their  situation  a  minute,  and  then  said  to 
Lovejoy,  "You  stay  in  camp,  and  I'll  return  with 
the  guide  to  the  fort  and  get  a  new  man." 

The  pack-mules  needed  rest,  and  so  this  plan  was 
agreed  to.  Whitman  and  the  obstinate  guide  went 
back,  while  Lovejoy  waited  in  the  ravine  and  tried 
to  nourish  the  mules  by  gathering  brush  and  the 
inner  bark  of  willows  for  them  to  eat.  Fortunately 
mules  can  live  on  almost  anything. 

For  a  week  Lovejoy  stayed  in  the  ravine,  only 
partly  sheltered  from  wind  and  snow,  before  Whit 
man  returned.  He  brought  a  new  guide  with  him, 
and,  the  storm  having  now  lessened,  the  little  party 
was  able  to  get  through  the  pass  and  strike  out  for 
the  post  at  Taos. 

The  route  Whitman  was  taking  was  far  from 
direct,  was  in  fact  at  least  a  thousand  miles  longer 
than  if  they  had  headed  directly  east  from  Walla 
Walla,  but  they  were  avoiding  the  highest  Rockies, 


HOW  WHITMAN  SAVED  OREGON       143 

and  were  traveling  to  a  certain  extent  in  the  shelter 
of  the  ranges,  where  there  was  much  less  snow  and 
plenty  of  fire-wood  could  be  found.  The  winter  of 
1842-43  was  very  cold,  and  if  they  had  journeyed 
direct  the  continual  storms  and  lack  of  all  fuel  for 
camp-fires  might  have  caused  a  different  ending 
to  their  cross-country  ride.  As  it  was  they  suffered 
continually  from  frozen  feet  and  hands  and  ears,  and 
lost  a  number  of  days  when  one  or  the  other  could 
not  sit  his  saddle. 

Traveling  far  to  the  south  they  came  to  the  Grand 
River,  one  of  the  most  dangerous  rivers  in  the  west. 
The  current,  even  in  summer,  is  rapid,  deep,  and 
cold.  Now,  in  winter,  solid  ice  stretched  two  hun 
dred  feet  from  either  shore,  and  between  the  ice 
was  a  rushing  torrent  over  two  hundred  feet  wide. 

The  guide  studied  the  swift,  boiling  current,  and 
shook  his  head.  "  It's  too  risky  to  try  to  cross,"  he 
declared. 

"  We  must  cross,  and  at  once,"  said  Whitman 
positively.  He  dismounted,  and,  picking  out  a 
willow  tree  near  the  shore,  cut  a  pole  about  eight 
feet  long.  He  carried  this  back  to  his  horse, 
mounted,  and  put  the  pole  on  his  shoulder,  gripping 
it  with  his  left  arm.  "  Now  you  shove  me  off,"  he 
said  to  the  men.  Lovejoy  and  the  guide  did  as  he 
ordered,  and  Whitman  and  his  horse  were  pushed 
into  the  stream.  They  disappeared  under  the 
water,  but  soon  came  up,  struggling  and  swimming. 
In  a  minute  or  two  the  horse  struck  rocky  bottom. 


144  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

and  could  wade.  Whitman  jumped  off,  broke  the 
ice  with  his  pole,  and  helped  the  animal  to  get  to 
the  shore. 

Meantime  Lovejoy  and  the  guide,  breaking  the 
ice  on  their  side,  headed  their  horses  and  the  pack- 
mules  into  the  river.  Animals  in  that  country  are 
always  ready  to  follow  where  their  leader  goes,  and 
they  all  swarn  and  splashed  their  way  across.  The 
men  found  plenty  of  wood  at  hand,  and  soon  had  a 
roaring  fire,  by  which  they  camped,  and  dried  out 
thoroughly  before  riding  on. 

The  delays  caused  by  their  stay  in  the  mountains 
and  physical  hardships  had  made  their  store  of  pro 
visions  run  low.  At  one  time  they  had  to  kill  a  dog 
that  had  joined  them,  and  a  little  later  one  of  the 
mules  for  food.  Eating  and  sleeping  little,  and 
pushing  on  as  rapidly  as  they  could  they  finally 
reached  the  old  city  of  Santa  Fe,  the  metropolis  of 
the  southwest.  But  here  Whitman  only  stopped 
long  enough  to  buy  fresh  provisions. 

They  were  now  heading  for  Bent's  Fort  near  the 
head  of  the  Arkansas  River.  The  storms  in  the  hills 
were  past,  and  they  were  riding  over  vast  treeless 
prairies,  where  there  was  plenty  of  grass  for  the 
horses,  and  any  amount  of  wild  game  if  they  could 
have  stopped  long  enough  to  replenish  their  larder 
with  it.  Again  and  again  they  were  forced  to  prairie 
expedients.  Once,  as  they  reached  one  of  the  tribu 
taries  of  the  Arkansas  River,  after  a  long  and  tedious 
day  on  the  plains,  they  found  the  river  frozen  over 


HOW  WHITMAN  SAVED  OREGON       145 

with  a  layer  of  smooth,  clear  ice,  hardly  strong 
enough  to  bear  a  man.  They  must  have  wood,  but 
although  there  was  plenty  of  it  on  the  other  side, 
there  was  none  on  their  shore  of  the  stream.  Whit 
man  took  the  ax  from  his  kit,  and  lying  down  on  the 
thin  ice,  contrived  with  great  caution  and  patience 
to  make  his  way  across.  On  the  other  bank  he  cut 
long  poles  and  short  cross-pieces.  These  he  pushed 
across  the  ice  to  Lovejoy,  and  with  them  they  made 
enough  of  a  bridge  for  the  latter  to  urge  the  horses 
and  mules  to  try  to  cross.  They  all  got  over  safely, 
though  with  much  slipping  and  splashing.  In  cut 
ting  his  last  pole  Whitman  split  the  ax-helve.  When 
they  camped  he  bound  the  break  with  a  deerskin 
thong,  but  that  night  a  thieving  wolf  found  the  ax 
at  the  edge  of  the  camp,  wanted  the  fresh  deerskin, 
and  dragged  away  ax  and  thong.  The  loss  would 
have  been  very  serious  if  it  had  happened  earlier  in 
their  journey. 

When  they  were  within  four  days'  ride  of  Bent's 
Fort  they  met  a  caravan  traveling  toward  Taos. 
The  leader  told  Whitman  that  a  party  of  moun 
taineers  was  about  leaving  Bent's  Fort  for  St.  Louis, 
but  added  that  Whitman  and  Lovejoy,  hampered  by 
their  pack  animals,  would  not  be  in  time  to  join  them. 

Whitman  was  very  anxious  to  join  the  mountain 
eers  if  he  could,  and  decided  to  leave  Lovejoy  and 
the  guide  with  the  pack-mules.  Taking  the  fastest 
horse,  and  a  small  store  of  food,  he  rode  on  alone, 
hoping  to  catch  the  party.  To  do  this  he  would 


I46  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

have  to  travel  on  Sunday,  something  they  had  not 
done  before. 

Lovejoy  saw  Dr.  Whitman  start  on  his  ride,  but 
when  the  former  reached  Bent's  Fort  four  days  later 
he  was  astonished  to  find  that  Whitman  had  not 
arrived  there,  nor  been  heard  from.  As  that  part  of 
the  country  was  full  of  packs  of  gray  wolves,  now 
half-starved  on  account  of  the  snow,  Lovejoy  was 
alarmed. 

If  not  a  prey  to  the  wolves,  Whitman  must  be 
lost ;  so  his  friend  took  a  good  guide  from  the  Fort 
and  started  to  search  for  him.  He  traveled  up-river 
a  hundred  miles,  and  there  fell  in  with  Indians  who 
told  him  of  a  lost  white  man  who  was  trying  to  find 
the  Fort,  and  whom  they  had  directed  down  the 
river.  Lovejoy  went  back,  and  late  that  afternoon 
saw  Whitman  come  riding  in,  convinced  that  his 
journey  had  been  so  much  delayed  because  he  had 
traveled  on  Sunday. 

The  party  of  mountaineers  had  already  left,  but  a 
messenger  had  been  sent  after  them,  and  they  stayed 
in  camp,  waiting  for  Whitman.  Tired  as  he  was,  he 
started  out  immediately  with  a  new  guide,  particu 
larly  eager  to  join  this  company,  because  they  were 
now  nearing  the  outposts  of  civilization,  where  the 
worst  white  men  and  Indians  beset  the  pioneers. 
Lovejoy  waited  at  Bent's  Fort,  and  went  east  with 
the  next  caravan  that  started  for  St.  Louis. 

Whitman  came  safely  through  to  St.  Louis,  where 
he  had  friends.  He  was  at  once  surrounded  by 


HOW  WHITMAN  SAVED  OREGON       147 

trappers  and  traders  in  Indian  goods  and  furs  who 
wanted  news  of  the  plains.  In  his  turn  he  asked 
news  of  Congress,  and  learned  that  the  Ashburton 
Treaty,  settling  a  part  of  the  boundary  between 
Canada  and  the  United  States,  had  been  approved 
and  signed,  but  that  the  question  of  Oregon  had  not 
been  settled,  and  from  the  reports  of  what  had  been 
said  in  the  debates  at  Washington  he  knew  that 
none  of  the  American  statesmen  realized  what  a 
great  prize  Oregon  Territory  was. 

He  must  reach  the  capital  before  Congress  ad 
journed  if  possible.  The  rivers  were  frozen,  and  he 
had  to  rely  on  a  journey  by  stage,  slow  at  all  times, 
but  especially  so  in  midwinter.  He  toiled  slowly 
eastward,  taking  one  coach  after  another,  swinging 
and  swaying  and  rocking  across  the  center  of  the 
country,  and  reaching  the  capital  in  time  to  plead 
the  cause  of  the  northwest. 

Washington  was  used  to  many  strange  types  of 
men  in  those  pioneer  days,  but  even  among  such 
Marcus  Whitman  was  a  striking  figure.  He  was  of 
medium  height,  compact  of  build,  with  big  shoulders 
and  a  large  head.  His  hair  was  iron  gray,  and  that, 
as  well  as  his  moustache  and  beard,  had  not  been  cut 
for  four  months.  He  was  of  pioneer  type,  living  so 
long  among  Indians  and  trappers,  and  watching  so 
constantly  for  wolves  and  bears,  that  he  seemed  awk 
ward  and  uncouth  in  an  eastern  city.  His  clothes 
were  a  coarse  fur  jacket  with  buckskin  breeches,  fur 
leggings,  and  boot  moccasins.  Over  these  he  wore 


148  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

a  buffalo  overcoat,  with  a  head-hood  for  bad  weather. 
He  did  not  show  an  inch  of  woven  garment. 

Whitman  reached  Washington  in  March,  1843, 
and  immediately  urged  his  case  before  President 
Tyler,  Secretary  of  State  Daniel  Webster,  and  many 
congressmen.  He  found  the  densest  ignorance 
concerning  Oregon  Territory,  a  tract  of  territory 
which  has  since  been  divided  into  the  three  states  of 
Washington,  Oregon,  and  Idaho.  A  senator  had 
said  of  that  territory,  "  What  is  the  character  of  this 
country  ?  As  I  understand  it  there  are  seven  hun 
dred  miles  this  side  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  that 
are  uninhabitable  ;  where  rain  never  falls ;  moun 
tains  wholly  impassable,  except  through  gaps  and 
depressions,  to  be  reached  only  by  going  hundreds 
of  miles  out  of  the  direct  course.  ...  Of 
what  use  would  it  be  for  agricultural  purposes? 
I  would  not,  for  that  purpose,  give  a  pinch  of  snuff 
for  the  whole  territory.  I  wish  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains  were  an  impassable  barrier.  If  there  was 
an  embankment  of  even  five  feet  to  be  removed 
I  would  not  consent  to  expend  five  dollars  to  remove 
it  and  enable  our  population  to  go  there."  Another 
statesman  declared,  "  With  the  exception  of  land 
along  the  Willamette  and  strips  along  other  water 
courses,  the  whole  country  is  as  irreclaimable  and 
barren  a  waste  as  the  Desert  of  Sahara.  Nor  is  this 
the  worst ;  the  climate  is  so  unfriendly  to  human 
life  that  the  native  population  has  dwindled  away 
under  the  ravages  of  malaria."  And  newspaper 


HOW  WHITMAN  SAVED  OREGON       149 

opinions  were  no  more  favorable.  The  Louis 
ville  Journal  wrote,  "  Of  all  the  countries  upon 
the  face  of  the  earth  Oregon  is  one  of  the  least 
favored  by  heaven.  It  is  the  mere  riddlings  of 
creation.  It  is  almost  as  barren  as  Sahara  and 
quite  as  unhealthy  as  the  Campagna  of  Italy. 
Russia  has  her  Siberia  and  England  has  her  Botany 
Bay,  and  if  the  United  States  should  ever  need 
a  country  to  which  to  banish  her  rogues  and 
scoundrels,  the  utility  of  such  a  region  as  Oregon 
would  be  demonstrated.  Until  then,  we  are  per 
fectly  willing  to  leave  this  magnificent  country 
to  the  Indians,  trappers  and  buffalo  hunters  that 
roam  over  its  sand-banks." 

Marcus  Whitman  had  ridden  four  thousand  miles, 
and  starved,  frozen,  and  never  rested  in  order  to 
overcome  such  opinions.  The  President  and  Daniel 
Webster  were  polite  to  him,  but  neither  seemed 
to  think  much  of  the  northwest.  As  he  was 
describing  the  richness  of  the  country,  its  fertile 
soil,  great  forests,  precious  minerals,  and  delightful 
climate,  Webster  interrupted.  "  But  Oregon  is 
shut  off  by  impassable  mountains  and  a  great 
desert,  which  make  a  wagon  road  impossible,"  said 
he.  Whitman  answered,  "  Six  years  ago  I  was 
told  there  was  no  wagon  road  to  Oregon,  and 
it  was  impossible  to  take  a  wagon  there,  and  yet  in 
despite  of  pleadings  and  almost  threats,  I  took 
a  wagon  over  the  road  and  have  it  now."  The 
missionary's  earnest,  forceful  manner  impressed 


ISO  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

both  President  Tyler  and  Secretary  Webster,  and 
gradually  they  began  to  think  it  might  be  worth 
while  to  protect  the  claim  of  the  United  States 
to  that  country.  Finally  Whitman  said,  "All  I 
ask  is  that  you  won't  barter  away  Oregon,  or 
allow  English  interference  until  I  can  lead  a  band 
of  stalwart  American  settlers  across  the  plains : 
for  this  I  will  try  to  do." 

"  Dr.  Whitman,"  answered  President  Tyler,  "your 
long  ride  and  frozen  limbs  speak  for  your  courage 
and  patriotism ;  your  missionary  credentials  are 
good  vouchers  for  your  character  ;  "  and  he  granted 
the  request. 

This  was  all  Whitman  wanted,  because  he  be 
lieved  that  under  the  treaty  then  in  force  between 
the  United  States  and  England  the  nation  that 
should  colonize  the  country  was  to  own  it.  He 
knew  that  up  to  that  time  the  English  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  had  bought  out  all  American  traders 
or  driven  out  all  settlers,  but  he  hoped  he  could 
lead  enough  emigrants  there  now  to  hold  it  for 
the  United  States. 

He  next  went  to  the  American  Missionary  Board 
in  Boston,  which  had  originally  sent  him  out  to 
Oregon.  There  he  met  with  cold  treatment,  and 
was  told  he  should  not  have  left  the  camp  at  Wai-i- 
lat-pui  without  permission  from  Boston,  and  that 
his  trip  across  the  continent  was  a  wild-goose  chase. 
This  unmerited  rebuke  must  have  hurt  him  sorely. 
He  was,  however,  so  filled  with  eagerness  to  lead 


HOW  WHITMAN  SAVED  OREGON       151 

his  party  of  pioneers  west  that  he  did  not  let  it 
daunt  him,  but  went  on  with  his  preparations. 
In  this  he  was  very  much  helped  by  his  companion 
Lovejoy,  who  was  gathering  a  large  number  of 
emigrants  on  the  frontier  awaiting  Whitman's 
return. 

The  meeting  point  of  the  emigrants  was  the 
little  town  of  Weston,  not  far  from  where  Kansas 
City  now  stands.  Here  and  at  various  near-by 
settlements  the  pioneers  gathered  early  in  the 
year  1843,  waiting  for  Dr.  Whitman  to  join  them, 
and  for  the  spring  grass  to  grow  high  enough 
to  feed  their  cattle.  As  it  happened,  that  year  the 
grass  was  late,  and  the  caravan  did  not  get  under 
way  until  the  first  week  in  June.  Whitman  himself 
was  delayed  through  the  need  of  leaving  careful 
instructions  for  those  who  were  to  cross  the  plains 
later  in  the  year.  The  caravan  started  before  Whitman 
arrived,  and  he  did  not  overtake  the  advance  guard 
until  they  had  reached  the  Platte  River.  When 
he  did  actually  join  the  emigrants  he  looked  after 
everything,  mending  broken  prairie  wagons,  cheer 
ing  tired  mothers,  acting  as  surgeon  and  doctor, 
hunting  out  fords  through  quicksands  and  rivers, 
searching  for  water  and  grass  in  the  desert  plains, 
seeking  new  passes  through  the  mountains,  and 
at  night  superintending  the  building  of  camp- 
fires  and  keeping  watch  against  an  attack  by  wolves 
or  other  wild  animals. 

The  journey  from  the  Platte  River  as  far  as  Fort 


152  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

Hall,  which  was  near  the  eastern  border  of  Oregon 
Territory,  was  much  like  other  pioneer  travels 
through  the  west.  Whitman  had  been  over  this 
trail  several  times  and  the  difficulties  he  encountered 
were  not  new  to  him.  At  Fort  Hall  he  had  to 
meet  Captain  John  Grant  again,  who,  as  an  agent  of 
the  Fur  Company,  did  not  want  new  farmers  to 
settle  in  Oregon. 

Instead  of  appealing  only  to  a  few  men  Captain 
Grant  now  spoke  to  several  hundred  resolute  pio 
neers.  He  told  them  of  the  terrors  of  the  long 
journey  through  the  mountains  and  the  impossi 
bility  of  hauling  their  heavy  prairie  wagons  over 
the  passes;  he  recounted  the  failures  of  other  pio 
neers  who  had  tried  what  they  had  planned  to  do ; 
he  showed  them  in  the  corral  wagons,  farm  tools, 
and  other  pioneer  implements  that  earlier  emigrants 
had  had  to  leave  when  they  ventured  into  the 
mountains.  He  stated  the  difficulties  so  clearly 
that  this  company  was  almost  persuaded,  as  earlier 
companies  had  been,  to  follow  his  suggestions, 
leave  their  farming  implements  behind,  and  try 
to  make  a  settlement  without  any  of  the  tools  or 
comforts  that  were  so  greatly  needed  in  that  country. 
Whitman,  however,  spoiled  Grant's  plans.  He  said 
to  his  followers,  "  Men,  I  have  guided  you  thus 
far  in  safety.  Believe  nothing  you  hear  about 
not  being  able  to  get  your  wagons  through  ;  every 
one  of  you  stick  to  your  wagons  and  your  goods. 
They  will  be  invaluable  to  you  when  you  reach 


HOW  WHITMAN  SAVED  OREGON       153 

the  end  of  your  journey.  I  took  a  wagon  over 
to  Oregon  six  years  ago."  The  men  believed  their 
leader,  refused  to  obey  Captain  Grant,  and  prepared 
to  start  on  the  trail  into  the  high  Rockies. 

It  was  the  last  six  hundred  miles  of  the  journey  to 
Oregon  that  usually  made  the  most  severe  test  of 
the  settlers'  endurance.  From  Fort  Hall  the  nature 
of  the  traveling  changed  entirely,  and  was  apt 
to  resemble  the  retreat  of  a  disorganized  army. 
Earlier  caravans,  although  they  had  taken  Captain 
Grant's  advice  and  left  many  wagons,  horses,  and 
camp  comforts  behind,  had  suffered  untold  hard 
ships.  Oxen  and  horses,  worn  by  their  long  trip 
across  the  plains,  and  toiling  for  long  stretches 
through  the  high  passes,  were  apt  to  perish  in  large 
numbers  and  frequently  fell  dead  in  their  yokes 
on  the  road.  Wagons  already  baked  in  the  blazing 
sun  of  the  desert  would  fall  to  pieces  when  they 
struck  a  sharp  rock  or  were  driven  over  a  rough 
incline.  Families  were  obliged  to  join  company 
and  throw  away  everything  that  tended  to  impede 
their  speed. 

The  approaching  storms  of  autumn,  which  meant 
impassable  snow,  would  not  allow  them  to  linger. 
In  addition  to  this  there  were  grizzlies  in  the  moun 
tains  and  the  constant  fear  of  attack  from  Indians. 
Such  pioneers  as  strayed  from  the  main  company 
were  likely  to  fall  in  with  an  enemy  that  was  con 
tinually  hovering  on  either  flank  of  the  march, 
ready  to  swoop  down  upon  unprotected  men  or 


154  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

women.  This  fear  added  to  the  speed  of  the  jour 
ney,  and  as  they  progressed  the  road  over  which 
they  traveled  was  strewn  with  dead  or  worn-out 
cattle,  abandoned  wagons,  discarded  cooking  uten 
sils,  yokes,  harness,  chests,  log  chains,  and  all  kinds 
of  family  heirlooms  that  the  settlers  had  hoped 
to  carry  to  their  new  homes.  Sometimes  the  teams 
grew  so  much  weakened  that  none  dared  to  ride 
in  the  wagons,  and  men,  women,  and  children  would 
walk  beside  them,  ready  to  give  a  helping  push 
up  any  steep  part  of  the  road.  A  pioneer  who 
had  once  made  this  journey  said,  referring  to  a  former 
trip  across  the  mountains,  "  The  fierce  summer's 
heat  beat  upon  this  slow  west-rolling  column.  The 
herbage  was  dry  and  crisp,  the  rivulets  had  become 
but  lines  in  the  burning  sand  ;  the  sun  glared  from 
a  sky  of  brass ;  the  stony  mountainsides  glared 
with  the  garnered  heat  of  a  cloudless  summer.  The 
dusky  brambles  of  the  scraggy  sage-brush  seemed 
to  catch  the  fiery  rays  of  heat  and  shiver  them 
into  choking  dust,  that  rose  like  a  tormenting 
plague  and  hung  like  a  demon  of  destruction  over 
the  panting  oxen  and  thirsty  people. 

"  Thus  day  after  day,  for  weeks  and  months, 
the  slow  but  urgent  retreat  continued,  each  day 
demanding  fresh  sacrifices.  An  ox  or  a  horse 
would  fall,  brave  men  would  lift  the  useless  yoke 
from  his  limp  and  lifeless  neck  in  silence.  If  there 
was  another  to  take  his  place  he  was  brought  from 
the  loose  band,  yoked  up  and  the  journey  resumed. 


HOW  WHITMAN  SAVED  OREGON       155 

When  the  stock  of  oxen  became  exhausted,  cows 
were  brought  under  the  yoke,  other  wagons  left, 
and  the  lessening  store  once  more  inspected ;  if 
possible  another  pound  would  be  dispensed  with. 

"  Deeper  and  deeper  into  the  flinty  mountains 
the  forlorn  mass  drives  its  weary  way.  Each  morn 
ing  the  weakened  team  has  to  commence  a  struggle 
with  yet  greater  difficulties.  It  is  plain  the  journey 
will  not  be  completed  within  the  anticipated  time, 
and  the  dread  of  hunger  joins  the  ranks  of  the 
tormentors.  .  .  .  The  Indians  hover  in  the 
rear,  impatiently  waiting  for  the  train  to  move 
on  that  the  abandoned  trinkets  may  be  gathered 
up.  Whether  these  are  gathering  strength  for  a 
general  attack  we  cannot  tell.  There  is  but  one 
thing  to  do — press  on.  The  retreat  cannot  hasten 
into  rout,  for  the  distance  to  safety  is  too  great. 
Slower  and  slower  is  the  daily  progress." 

Marcus  Whitman,  however,  had  known  these 
difficulties  before,  and  guarded  his  caravan  from 
many  of  them. 

Up  to  that  date  almost  no  man  had  crossed 
into  Oregon  by  the  route  he  was  taking.  A  few 
missionaries  had  made  the  journey  on  horseback, 
driving  some  head  of  cattle  with  them,  and  three  or 
four  wagons  drawn  by  oxen  had  reached  the  Snake 
River  at  an  earlier  date,  but  it  was  the  general 
opinion  of  trappers  that  no  large  company  of  people 
could  travel  down  the  Snake  River  because  of 
the  scarcity  of  pasturage  and  the  rugged  road 


156  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

through  the  mountains.  It  was  also  thought  that 
the  Sioux  Indians  would  oppose  the  approach  of 
such  a  large  caravan  because  the  emigrants  might 
kill  or  drive  away  the  buffaloes,  which  were  already 
diminishing  in  number  and  were  hunted  by  this  tribe 
for  food. 

When  they  came  to  cross  the  Snake  River  Whit 
man  gave  orders  to  fasten  the  wagons  together  in 
one  long  line,  the  strongest  ones  being  placed  in  the 
lead.  When  the  teams  were  in  position  Whitman 
tied  a  long  rope  about  his  waist  and  fastened  the 
other  end  to  the  first  team.  Riding  his  horse  into 
the  current  he  swam  across  the  river.  He  called 
to  the  other  riders  to  follow  him,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  pull  on  the  rope  that  was  tied  to  the  first 
team.  In  this  way  the  leaders  were  started  into 
the  water,  and  all  were  drawn  over  in  safety.  At 
times,  however,  it  took  a  great  deal  of  pulling  on 
the  ropes  by  many  men  to  drag  the  weaker  teams 
to  a  safe  foothold  on  the  farther  bank.  The  Snake 
River  at  the  place  where  Whitman  forded  it  was 
divided  into  three  separate  rivers  by  islands,  and  as 
the  last  stream  on  the  Oregon  shore  was  a  deep  and 
rapid  current  fully  a  mile  wide,  it  can  be  seen 
what  a  task  it  was  to  get  so  many  wagons,  tired 
ox-teams,  and  the  great  company  of  men,  women 
and  children  across  it.  But  Whitman  had  solved 
many  such  problems  before.  When  he  and  his 
wife  went  to  Oregon  six  years  earlier  she  had  said  it 
was  a  shame  that  her  husband  should  wear  himself 


HOW  WHITMAN  SAVED  OREGON       157 

out  in  getting  their  wagon  through.  "  Yesterday/' 
she  said,  "  it  was  overset  in  the  river  and  he  was 
wet  from  head  to  foot  getting  it  out ;  to-day  it 
was  upset  on  the  mountainside,  and  it  was  hard 
work  to  save  it." 

There  were  over  a  thousand  people  in  this  expe 
dition  that  was  going  out  to  colonize  Oregon  for  the 
United  States.  They  had  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty  wagons  drawn  by  ox-teams,  which  averaged 
six  yoke  of  oxen  to  a  team,  and,  in  addition,  several 
thousand  horses  and  cattle,  led  or  driven  by  the 
emigrants.  Although  they  started  to  travel  in  one 
body  they  soon  found  they  could  do  better  by  divid 
ing  into  two  columns,  marching  within  easy  hailing 
distance  of  each  other,  so  long  as  they  were  in 
danger  of  attack  by  the  Indians,  and  later  separating 
into  small  parties,  better  suited  to  the  narrow  moun 
tain  paths  and  the  meagre  pasture  lands. 

It  is  interesting  to  learn  how  such  a  company 
traveled.  At  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  sen 
tinels  who  were  on  guard  waked  the  camp  by  shots 
from  their  rifles,  the  emigrants  crept  from  their 
canvas-covered  wagons  or  tents  built  against  the 
side  of  the  wagons,  and  soon  the  smoke  of  camp-fires 
began  to  rise  in  the  air.  Sixty  men,  whose  duty  it 
was  to  look  after  the  cattle,  would  start  out  from  the 
corral,  or  enclosed  space,  spreading  through  the 
horses  and  cattle,  who  had  found  pasturage  over 
night  in  a  great  semicircle  about  the  camp.  The 
most  distant  animals  were  sometimes  two  miles 


158  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

away.  These  sixty  scouts  looked  for  Indian  trails 
beyond  the  herd  and  tried  to  discover  whether  any 
of  the  animals  had  been  stolen  or  had  strayed  dur 
ing  the  night.  If  none  were  lost  the  herders  drove 
the  animals  close  to  the  camp,  and  by  five  o'clock 
horses,  oxen,  and  cattle  were  rounded  up,  and  the 
separate  emigrants  chose  their  teams  and  drove 
them  into  the  corral  to  be  yoked.  The  corral  was  a 
circle  about  one  hundred  yards  deep,  formed  by 
wagons  fastened  together  by  ox-chains,  making  a 
barrier  that  could  not  be  broken  by  any  vicious  ox 
or  horse,  and  a  fortification  in  case  of  an  attack  by 
Indians. 

The  camp  was  very  busy  from  six  to  seven  o'clock ; 
the  women  prepared  breakfast ;  the  tents  were 
packed  away,  the  wagons  loaded  and  the  oxen 
yoked  and  fastened  to  their  owners'  wagons.  Each 
of  the  two  divisions  had  about  sixty  wagons,  and 
these  were  separated  into  sixteen  platoons.  Each 
platoon  took  its  turn  at  leading,  and  in  this  way  none 
of  the  wagons  had  to  travel  continually  in  the  dust. 
By  seven  o'clock  the  corral  was  broken  up ;  the 
women  and  children  had  found  their  places  in  the 
wagons,  and  the  leader,  or  pilot  as  he  was  called, 
mounted  his  horse  and  was  ready  to  lead  the  way 
for  the  day's  journey.  A  band  of  young  men  who 
were  not  needed  at  the  wagons,  well  mounted  and 
armed,  would  start  on  a  buffalo  hunt,  keeping  within 
easy  reach  of  the  caravan  and  hoping  to  bring  back 
food  for  the  night's  encampment. 


HOW  WHITMAN  SAVED  OREGON       159 

At  seven  o'clock  the  trumpet  sounded  the  advance, 
and  the  wagon  that  was  to  lead  for  that  day  slowly 
rolled  out  of  the  camp  and  headed  the  line  of  march. 
The  other  wagons  fell  in  behind  it,  and  guided  by 
the  horsemen,  the  long  line  commenced  its  winding 
route  through  the  mountains. 

The  country  through  which  Whitman  had  chosen 
to  travel  was  beautiful  in  the  extreme  ;  at  times  the 
road  lay  through  the  great  heights  of  the  Rockies, 
with  a  panorama  of  wonderful  charm  stretched  on 
the  horizon  ;  at  times  it  lay  beside  broad  rivers 
where  the  clearness  of  the  air  brought  out  all  the 
colors  of  late  summer  foliage.  The  party  of  hunters 
were  also  scouts  for  the  caravan,  searching  the  rivers 
for  the  most  promising  fords.  Having  found  one 
to  their  liking,  they  would  signal  with  a  flag  to  the 
pilot  and  his  guides  to  show  in  which  direction  to 
lead  the  wagons.  These  guides  kept  constantly  on 
the  alert,  for  it  would  be  hard  if  they  had  to  march  a 
mile  or  two  out  of  their  way  or  retrace  their  steps 
because  of  wrong  advice.  The  rest  of  the  emigrants 
trusted  the  route  entirely  to  their  leaders  and  rode  or 
marched  stolidly  along,  occasionally  stopping  to 
gather  a  few  flowers  for  the  women  and  children  in 
the  wagons.  At  noon  the  whole  line  stopped  for 
dinner.  The  scouting  party  would  carefully  choose 
a  good  camping  place,  looking  especially  for  the 
grass  and  water  that  were  so  much  needed  at  the  end 
of  five  hours  of  hard  traveling.  The  teams  were  not 
unyoked,  but  only  turned  loose  from  their  wagons, 


160  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

and  the  latter  were  drawn  up  in  columns,  four 
abreast.  No  corral  was  formed,  as  there  was  little 
danger  from  Indians  or  risk  of  animals  straying  in 
the  daytime. 

At  this  noon  rest  many  matters  were  discussed  by 
the  caravan  leaders.  Whitman  and  one  or  two 
others  had  been  chosen  to  decide  disputes  between 
the  different  members  of  the  party.  Orders  for  the 
good  of  the  caravan  would  be  given  out  at  this  time, 
and  Dr.  Whitman  would  visit  any  who  were  sick 
and  advise  with  the  various  families  as  to  new  diffi 
culties  they  had  met  with. 

When  dinner  was  eaten  and  the  teams  rested  the 
march  was  resumed,  and  continued  until  sundown, 
when  the  scouts  picked  out  the  best  camping  place 
for  the  night.  The  wagons  were  driven  into  a  great 
circle,  fastened  each  to  each,  and  the  cattle  freed  to 
seek  a  pasture  ;  tents  were  pitched,  fires  started,  and 
all  hands  were  busy.  The  scene  was  almost  like  a 
small  frontier  town. 

The  caravan  was  divided  into  three  companies, 
and  each  of  the  companies  subdivided  into  four 
watches.  Each  company  had  the  duty  of  acting  as 
sentries  for  the  camp  every  third  night,  and  each 
watch  took  its  turn.  The  first  watch  was  set  at  eight 
o'clock  in  the  evening,  just  after  the  evening  meal. 
For  a  short  time  there  would  be  talking,  perhaps 
singing,  or  the  music  of  the  violin  or  flute.  Usually, 
however,  the  day's  traveling  had  been  hard  and  try 
ing,  and  at  an  early  hour  the  emigrants  went  to  sleep. 


HOW  WHITMAN  SAVED  OREGON       161 

Late  in  the  summer  of  1843  Whitman's  pioneers 
left  the  mountains  behind  them,  and  came  down  into 
the  valleys  watered  by  the  tributaries  of  the  Columbia 
River.  As  they  approached  the  missionary  settle 
ment  at  Wai-i-lat-pui  a  band  of  Cayuse  and  Nez 
Perces  Indians  came  to  meet  them,  bringing  pack- 
mules  loaded  with  supplies.  Few  messengers  could 
have  been  more  welcome.  They  told  Whitman  that 
his  wife  and  friends  were  still  at  the  little  clearing 
where  he  had  left  them  almost  a  year  before,  and 
were  eagerly  looking  forward  to  the  arrival  of  the 
new  settlers.  The  leader  thought  that  the  caravan 
could  finish  its  journey  without  him  now,  so  he 
chose  one  of  his  most  reliable  Indian  guides,  Istikus, 
and  placed  him  in  charge  of  the  company.  Whit 
man  himself  hurried  on  to  the  mission.  Back  of  him 
rolled  the  long  train  of  canvas-covered  wagons  that 
had  traveled  so  far  over  prairies,  rivers,  and  moun 
tains.  Almost  a  thousand  men,  women,  and  chil 
dren  were  coming  into  this  far  western  section  of  the 
continent  to  settle  and  hold  the  country  for  the 
United  States. 

Whitman's  ride  changed  the  situation.  No  more 
statesmen  could  speak  of  the  impassable  mountains 
or  the  impossibility  of  taking  settlers'  wagons  into 
Oregon.  Before  Whitrrian  left  Washington  Daniel 
Webster  sent  a  message  to  England  stating  that  the 
United  States  would  insist  on  holding  all  territory 
south  of  the  forty-ninth  degree  of  latitude.  When 
President  Tyler  was  told  that  a  caravan  of  nearly  a 


1 62  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

thousand  people  under  Whitman's  leadership  had 
started  for  Oregon,  a  second  and  more  positive 
message  to  the  same  effect  was  sent  to  England. 
All  over  the  United  States  men  were  now  demand 
ing  that  their  government  should  claim  the  country 
as  far  as  the  Pacific  coast,  and  one  great  political 
party  took  as  its  watchword  the  motto,  "  Oregon, 
fifty-four,  forty, — or  fight,"  referring  to  the  degree 
of  latitude  they  wanted  for  the  boundary  line.  The 
Hudson's  Bay  Company,  finding  so  large  a  colony 
of  pioneers  settling  among  them,  was  forced  to  give 
over  its  efforts  to  hold  the  northwest  entirely  for 
itself.  In  time  the  English  statesmen  agreed  to  the 
claims  of  the  United  States,  and  on  July  17,  1846,  a 
treaty  was  signed,  fixing  the  boundary  between 
Canada  and  the  United  States  at  the  forty-ninth 
degree,  which  gave  Oregon  to  the  Republic. 

The  settlers  prospered,  and  the  little  missionary 
colony  near  the  Walla  Walla  River  grew  in  size. 
Whitman  resumed  his  work  among  the  Indians,  and 
seemed  to  win  their  friendship.  There  seemed  no 
reason  why  the  native  tribes  and  their  white  friends 
should  not  live  in  peace  in  such  an  undeveloped 
country.  After  a  time,  however,  fear  or  greed  or 
false  leaders  stirred  up  certain  Indians  and  sent 
them  on  the  war-path  against  their  friends.  No  one 
knew  the  real  cause  for  the  outburst,  but  on  Novem 
ber  29,  1847,  a  band  of  the  Cayuse  crept  down  on 
the  little  cluster  of  houses  at  Wai-i-lat-pui  and  killed 
fourteen  of  the  white  settlers.  Marcus  Whitman  was 


HOW  WHITMAN  SAVED  OREGON       163 

one  of  the  first  to  fall.  He  was  in  his  house,  with 
several  Indians  as  usual  in  the  room  with  him.  One 
was  sitting  close  to  him,  asking  for  some  medicine, 
when  another  came  up  behind  and  struck  him  with 
a  tomahawk.  These  two  then  gave  the  signal,  and 
their  allies  in  other  houses  fell  upon  the  white  men 
and  women.  After  the  massacre  forty  men,  women, 
and  children  were  carried  away  from  the  valley  by 
the  Indians,  but  most  of  them  were  later  rescued 
by  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  and  sent  back  to 
their  homes.  Other  white  settlers  joined  forces  and 
marched  against  the  treacherous  Cayuse,  but  the 
latter  fled  through  the  country,  scattering  into  dif 
ferent  tribes,  and  the  leaders  of  the  attack  were  not 
captured  until  nearly  two  years  later. 

Daniel  Webster  had  said  in  the  Senate :  "  What 
do  we  want  with  the  vast,  worthless  area,  this  region 
of  savages  and  wild  beasts,  of  deserts,  of  shifting 
sands  and  whirlwinds  of  dust,  of  cactus  and  prairie 
dogs  ?  To  what  use  could  we  ever  hope  to  put  these 
great  deserts,  or  these  endless  mountain  ranges,  im 
penetrable,  and  covered  to  their  base  with  eternal 
snow?  What  can  we  ever  hope  to  do  with  the 
western  coast,  a  coast  of  three  thousand  miles,  rock- 
bound,  cheerless,  and  uninviting,  and  not  a  harbor 
on  it?  What  use  have  we  for  such  a  country ?" 
But  though  many  great  statesmen  agreed  with  Web 
ster  a  simple  missionary  who  had  been  to  Oregon 
looked  into  the  future,  saw  the  value  of  the  vast 
expanse,  and  had  the  courage  and  determination  to 


1 64  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

ride  across  the  continent  for  aid,  and  then  bring 
back  a  thousand  settlers  to  help  him  realize  his 
dream.  Marcus  Whitman  is  one  of  the  noblest  ex 
amples  of  that  great  type  of  pioneers  who  won  the 
western  country  for  the  United  States. 


VII 

HOW  THE  MORMONS  CAME  TO 
SETTLE  UTAH 

IN  the  winter  of  1838-39  a  large  number  of  people 
moved  into  the  country  on  the  east  bank  of  the 
Mississippi  River  in  the  state  of  Illinois.  They  had 
taken  the  name  of  "Latter-Day  Saints,"  but  were 
generally  called  Mormons,  and  were  followers  of  a 
new  religion  that  had  been  founded  by  a  man  named 
Joseph  Smith  a  few  years  earlier.  This  strange  new 
religion  had  attracted  many  people  to  it,  and  the 
greater  number  of  them  had  first  moved  to  Ohio,  and 
then  into  the  new  state  of  Missouri,  but  they  were 
not  well  received  by  the  people  of  either  of  those 
states,  and  had  finally  been  driven  from  Missouri  at 
the  point  of  the  sword.  Fortunately  for  them  there 
was  plenty  of  unoccupied  land  in  the  West,  and 
their  leader  decided  to  take  refuge  near  the  town  of 
Quincy  in  Illinois.  At  that  time  a  man  had  only  to 
reside  in  the  state  for  six  months  in  order  to  cast  a 
vote  for  president,  and  as  an  election  was  near  at 
hand  the  politicians  of  Illinois  were  glad  to  wel 
come  the  Mormons.  Looking  about,  the  newcomers 
found  two  "paper"  cities,  or  places  that  had  been 
mapped  out  on  paper  with  streets  and  houses,  but 


166  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

had  never  actually  been  built.  The  Mormon  leaders 
bought  two  large  farms  in  the  "paper"  town  of 
Commerce,  and  many  thousand  acres  in  the  country 
adjoining,  and  there  they  laid  out  their  new  city,  to 
which  they  gave  the  strange  name  of  Nauvoo. 

The  Mormon  city  lay  along  the  Mississippi  River, 
and  its  streets  and  public  buildings  were  planned  on 
a  large  scale.  People  flocked  to  the  place,  and  as 
the  Mormon  missionaries  were  eager  workers  the 
number  of  converts  grew  rapidly.  A  temple  was 
built,  which  a  stranger  who  saw  it  in  1843  said  was 
the  wonder  of  the  world.  Many  Mormon  emigrants 
came  from  England,  usually  by  ship  to  New  Orleans, 
and  thence  by  river  steamboat  up  the  Mississippi  to 
Nauvoo.  By  the  end  of  1844  at  least  fifteen  thou 
sand  people  had  settled  there,  and  as  many  more 
were  scattered  through  the  country  in  the  imme 
diate  neighborhood.  Nauvoo  was  the  largest  city 
in  Illinois,  and  its  only  rival  in  that  part  of  the  West 
was  St.  Louis.  Joseph  Smith  had  obtained  a  char 
ter,  and  both  the  political  parties,  the  Whigs  and 
the  Democrats,  were  doing  their  best  to  make  friends 
of  his  people.  Nauvoo  had  little  of  the  rough  look 
of  most  newly-settled  frontier  towns,  and  handsome 
houses  and  public  buildings  sprang  up  rapidly  along 
its  fine  wide  streets. 

Unfortunately  for  the  Mormons  their  leader  was  a 
man  who  made  enemies  as  easily  as  he  made  friends. 
He  had  aroused  much  ill  feeling  when  he  lived  in 
Missouri.  As  a  result,  when,  one  day  in  May,  1842, 


HOW  THE  MORMONS  SETTLED  UTAH     167 

Governor  Boggs  of  Missouri  was  shot  and  seriously 
wounded  while  sitting  at  the  window  of  his  home, 
many  people  laid  the  crime  to  Smith  or  his  followers, 
and  believed  that  the  prophet  himself,  as  Smith  was 
called,  had  ordered  the  shooting.  The  officers  of 
Missouri  asked  the  governor  of  Illinois  to  hand 
Smith  over  to  them.  This  was  not  done,  and  conse 
quently  ill  feeling  against  the  prophet  grew  stronger. 
In  the  meantime  a  man  named  John  C.  Bennett,  who 
had  joined  the  Mormons  at  Nauvoo,  and  had  been 
the  first  mayor  of  the  city,  deserted  the  church,  and 
turned  into  one  of  the  most  bitter  of  its  enemies. 
He  denounced  the  Mormons  in  letters  he  wrote  to 
the  newspapers,  and  exposed  what  he  called  their 
secrets.  This  led  other  people  to  attack  the  ideas 
of  the  Mormons,  and  it  was  not  long  before  there 
was  almost  as  much  dislike  of  them  in  Illinois  as 
there  had  been  in  Missouri. 

Even  in  the  Mormon  church  itself  there  were  men 
who  would  not  agree  with  all  the  prophet  Joseph 
Smith  said.  A  few  of  these  men  set  up  a  printing- 
press  and  published  a  paper  that  they  called  the 
Nauvoo  Expositor.  Only  one  issue  of  this  sheet  ap 
peared,  dated  June  7,  1844.  That  was  enough,  how 
ever,  to  raise  the  wrath  of  Joseph  Smith  and  his 
elders,  and  they  ordered  the  city  marshal  to  destroy 
the  press.  The  marshal  broke  the  press  and  type  in 
the  main  street  of  the  city,  and  burned  the  contents 
of  the  newspaper  office. 

The  editors  hastily  fled  to  the  neighboring  town 


i68  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

of  Carthage.  The  people  there  and  in  all  the 
neighboring  villages  denounced  the  destruction  of 
the  press,  and  declared  that  the  time  had  come  to 
force  the  Mormons  to  obey  the  laws,  and,  if  they 
would  not  do  so,  to  drive  them  out  of  Illinois. 
Military  companies  were  formed,  cannon  were  sent 
for,  and  the  governor  of  the  state  was  asked  to  call 
out  the  militia. 

The  governor  went  to  the  scene  of  the  trouble  to 
investigate.  He  found  all  that  part  of  the  east  shore 
of  the  Mississippi  divided  between  the  Mormons  and 
their  enemies.  He  ordered  the  mayor  of  Nauvoo  to 
send  Mormons  to  him  to  explain  why  they  had 
destroyed  the  printing-press,  and  when  he  had  heard 
their  story  the  governor  told  them  that  Smith  and  his 
elders  must  surrender  to  him,  or  the  whole  military 
force  of  the  state  would  be  called  out  to  capture 
them.  But  the  prophet  had  not  been  idle.  He  had 
put  his  city  under  martial  law,  had  formed  what  was 
called  the  Legion  of  the  Mormons,  and  had  called  in 
his  followers  from  the  near-by  villages.  He  had 
meant  to  defend  his  new  city  ;  but  when  he  heard  the 
governor's  threat  to  arrest  him,  he  left  Nauvoo  with 
a  few  comrades  and  started  for  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
Friends  went  after  him,  and  begged  him  not  to 
desert  his  people.  He  could  not  resist  their  appeal 
to  him  to  return,  and  he  went  back,  although  he  was 
afraid  of  the  temper  of  his  enemies.  As  soon  as  he 
returned  to  Illinois  he  was  arrested  on  the  charge  of 
treason  and  of  putting  Nauvoo  under  martial  law, 


HOW  THE  MORMONS  SETTLED  UTAH     169 

and  together  with  his  brother  Hyrum  was  sent  to  the 
jail  at  Carthage. 

Some  seventeen  hundred  men,  members  of  the 
militia,  had  gathered  at  the  towns  of  Carthage  and 
Warsaw,  and  the  enemies  of  the  Mormons  urged  the 
governor  to  march  at  the  head  of  these  troops  to 
Nauvoo.  He  knew  that  in  the  excited  state  of  af 
fairs  there  was  danger  that  if  these  troops  entered 
the  city  they  might  set  it  on  fire  and  destroy  much 
property.  He  therefore  ordered  all  except  three 
companies  to  disband  ;  with  one  company  he  set  out 
to  visit  the  Mormon  city,  and  the  other  two  com 
panies  he  left  to  guard  the  jail  at  Carthage. 

The  governor  marched  to  Nauvoo,  spoke  to  the 
citizens,  and,  having  assured  them  that  he  meant  no 
harm  to  their  church,  left  about  sundown  on  his  road 
back  to  Carthage.  In  the  meantime,  however, 
events  had  been  happening  in  the  latter  place  that 
were  to  affect  the  whole  history  of  the  Mormons. 

The  two  Smiths,  Joseph  and  Hyrum,  with  two 
friends,  Willard  Richards  and  John  Taylor,  were 
sitting  in  a  large  room  in  the  Carthage  jail  when  a 
number  of  men,  their  faces  blackened  in  disguise, 
came  running  up  the  stairway.  The  door  of  the 
room  had  no  lock  or  bolt,  and,  as  the  men  inside 
feared  some  attack,  Hyrum  Smith  and  Richards 
leaped  to  the  door  and  shutting  it  stood  with  their 
shoulders  against  it.  The  men  outside  could  not 
force  the  door  open,  and  began  to  shoot  through  it. 
The  two  men  at  the  door  were  driven  back,  and  on 


I/O  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

the  second  volley  of  shot  Hyrum  Smith  was  killed. 
As  his  brother  fell  the  prophet  seized  a  six  shooting 
revolver  that  one  of  their  visitors  had  left  on  the 
table,  and  going  to  the  door  opened  it  a  few  inches. 
He  snapped  each  barrel  at  the  men  on  the  stair ; 
three  barrels  missed  fire,  but  each  of  the  three  that 
exploded  wounded  a  man.  As  the  prophet  fired 
Taylor  and  Richards  stood  close  beside  him,  each 
armed  with  a  hickory  cane.  When  Joseph  Smith 
stopped  shooting  the  enemy  fired  another  volley 
into  the  room.  Taylor  tried  to  strike  down  some  of 
the  guns  that  were  leveled  through  the  broken  door. 

"  That's  right,  Brother  Taylor,  parry  them  off  as 
well  as  you  can  ! "  cried  Joseph  Smith.  He  ran  to 
the  window,  intending  to  leap  out,  but  as  he  jumped 
two  bullets  fired  through  the  doorway  struck  him, 
and  also  another  aimed  from  outside  the  building.  As 
soon  as  the  mob  saw  that  the  prophet  was  killed 
they  scattered,  alarmed  at  what  had  been  done. 

The  people  of  Carthage  and  the  neighboring 
country  expected  that  the  Legion  of  the  Mormons 
would  immediately  march  on  them  and  destroy  them. 
Families  fled  in  wagons,  on  horseback,  and  on  foot. 
Most  of  the  people  of  the  near-by  town  of  Warsaw 
crossed  the  Mississippi  in  order  to  put  the  river  be 
tween  them  and  their  enemies.  In  this  state  of 
excitement  the  governor  did  not  know  which  party 
to  trust,  so  he  rode  to  the  town  of  Quincy,  forty 
miles  away,  and  at  a  safe  distance  from  the  scene  of 
trouble.  But  the  Mormons  made  no  attempt  to 


HOW  THE  MORMONS  SETTLED  UTAH     171 

avenge  the  death  of  their  leader  ;  they  intended  to  let 
the  law  look  after  that. 

Week  by  week,  however,  it  grew  harder  for  them 
to  live  on  friendly  terms  with  the  other  people  of 
Western  Illinois,  and  more  and  more  troubles  arose 
to  sow  distrust.  The  Gentiles,  as  those  who  were 
not  Mormons  were  called,  began  to  charge  the 
Mormons  with  stealing  their  horses  and  cattle,  and 
the  state  repealed  the  charter  that  had  been  granted 
to  the  city  of  Nauvoo. 

During  that  summer  of  1845,  the  troubles  of 
Nauvoo's  people  increased.  One  night  in  September 
a  meeting  of  Gentiles  at  the  town  of  Green  Plains 
was  fired  on,  and  many  laid  the  attack  to  the 
Mormons.  Whether  this  was  true  or  not,  their 
enemies  gathered  in  force  and  scoured  the  country, 
burning  the  houses,  barns,  and  crops  of  the  Latter- 
Day  Saints,  and  driving  them  from  the  country  be 
hind  the  walls  of  Nauvoo.  From  their  city  streets 
the  saints  rode  out  to  pay  their  enemies  in  kind,  and 
so  the  warfare  went  on  until  the  governor  appointed 
officers  to  try  to  settle  the  feud.  The  people,  how 
ever,  wanted  the  matter  settled  in  only  one  way. 
They  insisted  that  the  Mormons  must  leave  Illinois. 
In  reply  word  came  from  Nauvoo  that  the  Saints 
would  go  in  the  spring,  provided  that  they  were  not 
molested,  and  that  the  Gentiles  would  help  them  to 
sell  or  rent  their  houses  and  farms,  and  give  them 
oxen,  horses,  wagons,  dry-goods,  and  cash  in  ex 
change  for  their  property.  The  Gentile  neighbors 


i/2  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

would  not  promise  to  buy  the  goods  the  Mormons  had 
for  sale,  but  promised  not  to  interfere  with  their  sell 
ing  whatever  they  could.  At  last  the  trouble  seemed 
settled.  Brigham  Young,  the  new  leader  of  the 
Mormons,  said  that  the  whole  church  would  start 
for  some  place  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains  in  the 
spring,  if  they  could  sell  enough  goods  to  make  the 
journey  there.  So  the  people  of  Nauvoo  prepared 
to  abandon  the  buildings  of  their  new  flourishing  city 
on  the  Mississippi,  and  spent  the  winter  trading  their 
houses  for  flour,  sugar,  seeds,  tents,  wagons,  horses, 
cattle,  and  whatever  else  might  be  needed  for  the 
long  trip  across  the  plains. 

The  Mormons  now  looked  forward  eagerly  to 
their  march  to  a  new  home,  and  many  of  them 
traveled  through  the  near-by  states,  buying  horses 
and  mules,  and  more  went  to  the  large  towns  in  the 
neighborhood  to  work  as  laborers  and  so  add  to  the 
funds  for  their  journey.  The  leaders  announced 
that  a  company  of  young  men  would  start  west  in 
March,  and  choose  a  good  situation  for  their  new 
city.  There  they  would  build  houses,  and  plant 
crops  which  should  be  ready  when  the  rest  of  the 
Mormons  arrived.  But  they  knew  there  was  always 
a  chance  that  the  people  of  the  country  would  attack 
them,  and  therefore  they  sent  messengers  to  the 
governors  of  the  territories  they  would  cross,  asking 
for  protection  on  the  march.  On  February  loth 
Brigham  Young  and  a  few  other  men  crossed  the 
Mississippi  and  selected  a  spot  on  Sugar  Creek  as 


HOW  THE  MORMONS  SETTLED  UTAH     173 

the  first  camp  for  the  people  who  were  to  follow. 
Young  and  the  twelve  elders  of  the  Mormons 
traveled  together,  and  wherever  their  camp  was 
pitched  that  place  was  given  the  name  of  "  Camp  of 
Israel." 

The  emigrants  had  a  test  of  hardship  even  when 
they  first  moved  across  the  Mississippi.  The  tem 
perature  dropped  to  twenty  degrees  below  zero,  and 
the  canvas-covered  wagons  and  tents  were  a  poor 
shelter  from  the  snow-storms  for  women  and  children 
who  had  been  used  to  the  comforts  of  a  large  town. 
Many  crossed  the  Mississippi  on  ice.  When  they  were 
gathered  on  Sugar  Creek  Brigham  Young  spoke  to 
them  from  a  wagon.  He  told  them  of  the  perils  of 
the  journey,  and  then  called  for  a  show  of  hands  by 
those  who  were  willing  to  start  upon  it ;  every  hand 
was  raised.  On  March  ist  the  camp  was  broken 
up,  and  the  long  western  march  began.  The  Mor 
mons  were  divided  into  companies  of  fifty  or  sixty 
wagons,  and  every  night  the  cattle  were  carefully 
rounded  up  and  guards  set  to  protect  them  from  at 
tack.  From  time  to  time  they  built  more  elaborate 
camps,  and  men  were  left  in  charge  to  plant  grain, 
build  log  cabins,  dig  wells,  and  fence  the  farms,  in  or 
der  that  they  might  give  food  and  shelter  to  other 
Mormons  who  would  be  making  the  journey  later. 
The  weather  was  all  against  their  progress.  Until 
May  it  was  bitter  cold,  and  there  were  heavy  snow 
storms,  constant  rains,  sleet,  and  thick  mud  to  be 
fought  with,  but  like  many  other  bands  of  American 


174  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

pioneers  the  Mormons  pushed  resolutely  on,  some 
days  marching  one  mile,  some  days  six,  until  May 
1 6th,  when  they  reached  a  charming  spot  on  a 
branch  of  the  Grand  River,  and  built  a  camp  that 
they  called  "  Mount  Pisgah."  Here  they  plowed 
and  planted  several  acres  of  land.  While  this  camp 
was  being  pitched,  Brigham  Young  and  some  of  the 
other  leaders  went  on  to  Council  Bluffs  and  at  a 
place  north  of  Omaha,  now  the  town  of  Florence, 
located  the  last  permanent  camp  of  the  expedition. 

The  trail  of  the  Mormons  now  stretched  across  all 
the  western  country.  At  each  of  the  camps  men, 
women,  and  children  were  living,  resting  and  pre 
paring  supplies  to  cover  the  next  stage  of  their  jour 
ney.  But  in  spite  of  the  care  with  which  the  march 
was  planned  those  who  left  Nauvoo  last  suffered  the 
most.  There  was  a  great  deal  of  sickness  among 
them,  and  owing  to  illness  they  were  often  forced 
to  stop  for  several  days  at  some  unprotected  point 
on  the  prairies.  Twelve  thousand  people  in  all 
shared  that  Mormon  march. 

The  Gentiles  in  Illinois  did  not  think  that  the  Mor 
mons  were  leaving  Nauvoo  as  rapidly  as  they  should. 
Every  week  from  two  to  five  hundred  Mormon  teams 
crossed  the  ferry  into  Iowa,  but  the  neighbors  thought 
that  many  meant  to  stay.  Ill  feeling  against  them 
grew,  and  a  meeting  at  Carthage  called  on  people 
to  arm  and  drive  out  all  Mormons  who  remained 
by  mid-June.  Six  hundred  men  armed,  ready  to 
march  against  Nauvoo. 


HOW  THE  MORMONS  SETTLED  UTAH     175 

When  the  Mormons  first  announced  that  they 
meant  to  leave  their  prosperous  city  in  Illinois  men 
came  hurrying  from  other  parts  of  the  country  to 
pick  up  bargains  in  houses  and  farms  that  they 
thought  they  would  find  there.  Many  of  these  new 
citizens  were  as  much  alarmed  at  the  threats  of  the 
neighbors  as  were  the  Mormons  themselves ;  some  of 
them  armed,  and  asked  the  governor  to  send  them 
aid.  The  men  at  Carthage  grew  very  much  excited, 
and  started  to  march  on  Nauvoo.  Word  came, 
however,  that  the  sheriff,  with  five  hundred  men,  had 
entered  the  city,  prepared  to  defend  it,  and  the 
Gentile  army  retreated.  A  few  weeks  afterward  the 
hostilities  broke  out  again,  and  seven  hundred  men 
with  cannon  took  the  road  to  the  city. 

Those  of  the  Mormons  who  were  left,  a  few  hun 
dreds  in  number,  had  built  rude  breastworks  for 
protection  ;  some  of  the  Gentile  army  took  these, 
and  the  rest  marched  through  the  corn  fields,  and 
entered  the  city  on  another  side.  A  battle  followed 
between  the  Gentiles  in  the  streets  and  the  Mormons 
in  their  houses,  and  lasted  an  hour  before  the 
Gentiles  withdrew  to  their  camp  in  the  corn  fields. 

Peaceful  citizens  now  tried  to  settle  the  matter. 
They  arranged  that  all  the  Mormons  should 
leave  immediately,  and  promised  to  try  to  protect 
them  from  any  further  attacks.  So  matters  stood 
until  May  iyth,  when  the  sheriff  and  his  men 
marched  into  the  city,  and  found  the  last  of  the  Mor 
mons  waiting  to  leave  by  the  ferry.  The  next  day 


176  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

they  were  told  to  go  at  once,  and  to  make  sure  that 
they  did  bands  of  armed  men  went  through  the 
streets,  broke  into  houses,  threw  what  goods  were 
left  out  of  doors  and  windows,  and  actually  threat 
ened  to  shoot  the  people.  The  few  remaining  Saints, 
most  of  them  those  who  had  been  too  ill  to  take  up 
the  march  earlier,  were  now  thoroughly  frightened, 
and  before  sundown  the  last  one  of  them  had  fled 
across  the  Mississippi.  A  few  days  later  this  last 
party,  six  hundred  and  forty  in  number,  began  the 
long  wearisome  journey  to  the  far  west,  and  the 
empty  city  of  Nauvoo  was  at  last  in  the  hands  of  the 
Gentiles. 

The  object  of  the  Mormons  was  to  find  a  place 
where  they  might  be  free  to  live  according  to  their 
own  beliefs.  So  far  they  had  been  continually  hunt 
ing  for  what  they  called  their  own  City  of  Zion.  As 
they  spent  that  winter  of  1846-47  in  their  camp  near 
Council  Bluffs,  they  tried  to  decide  where  they  would 
be  safest  from  persecution.  The  far  west  had  few 
settlements  as  yet,  and  they  were  free  to  take  what 
land  they  would,  but  the  Mormons  wanted  a  site  on 
which  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  city  that  should  one 
day  be  rich  and  prosperous.  They  decided  to  send 
out  a  party  of  explorers,  and  in  April,  1847,  one 
hundred  and  forty-three  men,  under  command  of 
Brigham  Young,  with  seventy-three  wagons  filled 
with  food  and  farm  tools,  left  the  headquarters  to  go 
still  farther  west.  They  journeyed  up  the  north  fork 
of  the  Platte  River,  and  in  the  valleys  found  great 


HOW  THE  MORMONS  SETTLED  UTAH     177 

herds  of  buffaloes,  so  many  in  number  that  they  had 
to  drive  them  away  before  the  wagons  could  pass. 
Each  day  the  bugle  woke  the  camp  about  five 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  At  seven  the  journey  be 
gan.  The  wagons  were  driven  two  abreast  by  men 
armed  with  muskets.  They  were  always  prepared 
for  attacks  from  Indians,  but  in  the  whole  of  their 
long  journey  no  red  men  ever  disturbed  them.  Each 
night  the  wagons  were  drawn  up  in  a  half-circle  on 
the  river  bank,  and  the  cattle  driven  into  this  shelter. 
At  nine  the  bugle  sent  them  all  to  bed.  So  they 
made  their  way  over  the  Uinta  range  to  Emigration 
Canyon.  Down  this  canyon  they  moved,  and  pres 
ently  came  to  a  terrace  from  which  they  saw  wide 
plains,  watered  by  broad  rivers,  and  ahead  a  great 
lake  filled  with  little  islands.  Three  days  later 
the  company  camped  on  the  plain  by  the  bank  of 
one  of  the  streams,  and  decided  that  this  should  be 
the  site  of  their  new  city.  They  held  a  meeting  at 
which  they  dedicated  the  land  with  religious  cere 
monies,  and  at  once  set  to  work  to  lay  off  fields  and 
start  plowing  and  planting.  Some  of  them  visited 
the  lake,  which  they  called  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  and 
bathed  in  its  buoyant  waters.  Day  by  day  more  of 
the  pioneers  arrived,  and  by  the  end  of  August  they 
had  chosen  the  site  of  their  great  temple,  built  log 
cabins  and  adobe  huts,  and  christened  the  place  the 
"City  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake."  This  name  was 
later  changed  to  Salt  Lake  City. 

It  took  some  time  for  this  large  body  of  emigrants 


178  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

to  build  their  homes.  Wood  was  scarce  and  had  to 
be  hauled  over  bad  roads  by  teams  that  were  still 
worn  out  by  the  long  march,  therefore  many  built 
houses  of  adobe  bricks,  and  as  they  did  not  know 
how  to  use  this  clay  the  rains  and  frost  caused  many 
of  the  walls  to  crumble,  and  when  snow  fell  the  peo 
ple  stretched  cloths  under  their  roofs  to  protect  them 
selves  from  the  dripping  bricks.  Many  families 
lived  for  months  in  their  wagons.  They  would  take 
the  top  part  from  the  wheels,  and  setting  it  on  the 
ground,  divide  it  into  small  bedrooms.  The  fur 
niture  was  of  the  rudest  sort ;  barrels  or  chests  for 
tables  and  chairs,  and  bunks  built  into  the  side  of 
the  house  for  beds.  But  at  last  they  were  free  from 
their  enemies  in  this  distant  country.  Men  in  Ohio, 
Missouri,  and  Illinois  had  hounded  them  from  their 
settlements,  but  in  this  far-off  region  they  had  no 
neighbors  except  a  few  pioneer  settlers,  and  wander 
ing  bands  of  Indians,  who  were  glad  to  trade  with 
them.  A  steady  stream  of  converts  to  the  Mormon 
church  followed  that  first  trail  across  the  plains.  A 
missionary  sent  to  England  brought  many  men  and 
women  from  that  country  to  the  city  on  the  Great 
Salt  Lake.  Brigham  Young  and  the  other  leaders 
encouraged  their  followers  above  all  else  to  cultivate 
the  land.  Most  of  the  Mormons  were  farmers,  and 
what  shops  there  were  dealt  only  in  the  necessities 
of  life.  Food  was  a  matter  of  the  first  importance, 
and  they  had  to  rely  entirely  upon  their  own  efforts  to 
provide  it.  Every  one  was  given  a  piece  of  land  for 


HOW  THE  MORMONS  SETTLED  UTAH     179 

his  house,  and  most  of  them  had  their  own  farms  in 
the  outlying  country.  When  they  were  sure  of  their 
food  they  began  to  build  their  temple  and  other 
public  buildings,  and  these,  like  their  streets,  were 
all  planned  on  the  lines  of  a  great  future  city.  They 
first  called  their  territory  Deseret,  but  later  changed 
it  to  the  Indian  name  of  Utah. 

Salt  Lake  City,  and  the  territory  of  Utah,  of 
which  it  was  the  chief  settlement,  might  have  re 
mained  for  years  almost  unknown  to  the  rest  of  the 
United  States  had  not  gold  been  discovered  in  Cali 
fornia  in  the  winter  of  1849.  The  news  of  untold 
riches  in  the  land  that  lay  between  Utah  and  the 
Pacific  Ocean  brought  thousands  of  fortune  hunters 
across  the  plains,  and  many  of  them  traveled  by  way 
of  Salt  Lake  City.  That  rush  of  men  brought  trade 
in  its  track  and  served  to  make  the  Mormons'  cap 
ital  well  known.  The  quest  for  gold  opened  up  the 
lands  along  the  Pacific  and  helped  to  tie  the  far  west 
to  the  rest  of  the  nation.  Soon  railroads  began  to 
creep  into  the  valleys  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
and  wherever  they  have  gone  they  have  brought 
men  closer  together.  But  in  Utah  the  Mormons 
were  the  first  settlers,  and  no  one  could  come  and 
drive  them  out  of  their  chosen  land.  At  last  they 
had  found  a  city  entirely  of  their  own.  They  had 
not  been  allowed  to  live  in  Nauvoo,  and  so  they 
built  a  new  capital.  Like  all  founders  of  new  relig 
ions  the  Mormons  had  to  weather  many  storms,  but 
after  they  had  passed  through  cold,  hunger,  and 


i8o  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

hardships  of  many  kinds  they  came  to  their  promised 
land. 

Such  is  the  story  of  the  founding  of  Salt  Lake 
City,  the  home  of  the  Mormon  people. 


VIII 
THE   GOLDEN    DAYS    OF  'FORTY-NINE 

IN  1848  California  was  largely  an  unexplored  re 
gion,  the  home  of  certain  old  Spanish  missions,  with 
a  few  seaport  towns  scattered  along  the  coast.  Some 
pioneers  from  the  East  had  settled  inland  after  Cal 
ifornia  had  been  separated  from  Mexico,  and  were 
ranching  and  farming.  One  of  these  pioneers,  a 
well-to-do  man  named  John  A.  Sutter,  had  staked 
out  a  considerable  tract  of  land  near  the  American 
River.  He  built  a  fort  or  stockade  as  headquarters, 
and  made  his  plans  to  cultivate  the  tract.  He  had 
a  number  of  men  working  for  him,  building  a  saw 
mill  on  the  south  branch  of  the  American  River, 
about  forty  miles  from  his  main  house.  These  work 
men  were  in  charge  of  James  Wilson  Marshall,  who 
intended  to  have  a  dry  channel  serve  as  the  tail-race 
for  the  mill,  and  was  widening  and  deepening  it  by 
loosening  the  earth.  At  night  the  water  of  the 
stream  was  allowed  to  run  through  this  channel,  and 
wash  out  the  gravel  and  sand.  One  day  early  in 
January,  as  Marshall  was  walking  along  the  bank  of 
the  race,  he  noticed  some  shining  yellow  flakes  in 
the  soil.  He  thought  these  flakes  might  be  gold, 
and  gathering  some  of  the  earth  carefully  washed 


i8o  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

hardships  of  many  kinds  they  came  to  their  promised 
land. 

Such  is  the  story  of  the  founding  of  Salt  Lake 
City,  the  home  of  the  Mormon  people. 


VIII 
THE   GOLDEN    DAYS    OF  'FORTY-NINE 

IN  1848  California  was  largely  an  unexplored  re 
gion,  the  home  of  certain  old  Spanish  missions,  with 
a  few  seaport  towns  scattered  along  the  coast.  Some 
pioneers  from  the  East  had  settled  inland  after  Cal 
ifornia  had  been  separated  from  Mexico,  and  were 
ranching  and  farming.  One  of  these  pioneers,  a 
well-to-do  man  named  John  A.  Sutter,  had  staked 
out  a  considerable  tract  of  land  near  the  American 
River.  He  built  a  fort  or  stockade  as  headquarters, 
and  made  his  plans  to  cultivate  the  tract.  He  had 
a  number  of  men  working  for  him,  building  a  saw 
mill  on  the  south  branch  of  the  American  River, 
about  forty  miles  from  his  main  house.  These  work 
men  were  in  charge  of  James  Wilson  Marshall,  who 
intended  to  have  a  dry  channel  serve  as  the  tail-race 
for  the  mill,  and  was  widening  and  deepening  it  by 
loosening  the  earth.  At  night  the  water  of  the 
stream  was  allowed  to  run  through  this  channel,  and 
wash  out  the  gravel  and  sand.  One  day  early  in 
January,  as  Marshall  was  walking  along  the  bank  of 
the  race,  he  noticed  some  shining  yellow  flakes  in 
the  soil.  He  thought  these  flakes  might  be  gold, 
and  gathering  some  of  the  earth  carefully  washed 


1 84  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

Francisco  to  Los  Angeles  jumped  prodigiously.  If 
men  were  to  stay  at  their  work  they  demanded  and 
received  twice  their  former  wages.  Shovels  and 
spades  sold  for  ten  dollars  apiece.  They,  and  a  few 
other  mining  implements,  were  the  only  things  still 
manufactured.  The  cry  of  gold  had  turned  men's 
heads  like  the  magic  wand  of  some  fairy. 

Inland  California  presented  a  strange  sight.  The 
roads  that  ran  from  San  Francisco  to  Sutter's  Fort 
had  formerly  lain  between  prosperous  farm  lands,  but 
now  the  crops  were  going  to  waste,  the  houses  were 
empty,  and  the  cattle  free  to  wander  through  fields 
of  grain.  Along  the  American  River,  on  the  other 
hand,  hills  and  valleys  were  filled  with  sheltering 
tents,  and  huts  built  of  brush  and  rocks  thrown  to 
gether  in  a  hurry.  Men  could  not  stop  for  comfort, 
but  worked  all  day  on  the  river  bank.  There  were 
almost  as  many  ways  of  searching  for  the  gold  as 
there  were  men.  Some  tried  to  wash  the  sand  and 
gravel  in  pans  ;  some  used  closely  woven  Indian 
baskets  ;  some  used  what  were  called  cradles.  The 
cradle  was  a  basket  six  or  eight  feet  long,  mounted 
on  rockers,  and  open  at  one  end  ;  at  the  other  end 
was  a  coarse  screen  sieve.  Cleats  were  nailed  across 
the  bottom  of  the  cradle.  One  workman  would  dig 
the  gravel  from  the  river  bank,  another  carry  it  to 
the  sieve,  a  third  pour  water  over  it,  and  a  fourth 
rock  the  cradle  The  screen  separated  the  stones 
from  the  gravel,  the  water  washed  away  the  earth 
and  carried  the  heavier  soil  out  of  the  cradle,  thus 


THE  GOLDEN  DAYS  OF  'FORTY-NINE     185 

leaving  the  black  sand  filled  with  the  gold.  This 
was  later  carried  to  a  pan  and  dried  in  the  sun. 
The  sand  could  then  be  blown  away,  and  the  gold 
would  be  left. 

Men  knew  that  fortunes  were  to  be  found  here. 
On  a  creek  a  few  miles  below  Coloma,  seventeen 
thousand  dollars'  worth  of  gold  was  taken  from  a 
ditch  three  hundred  feet  long,  four  wide,  and  two 
deep.  Another  small  channel  had  yielded  no  less 
than  twelve  thousand  dollars.  Many  men  already 
had  bags  and  bottles  that  held  thousands  of  dollars' 
worth  of  the  precious  mineral.  One  man,  who  had 
been  able  to  get  fifty  Indians  to  work  for  him  as 
washers,  obtained  sixteen  thousand  dollars  from  a 
small  creek  in  five  weeks'  time. 

All  this  quickly  changed  the  character  of  upper 
California.  Every  man  wanted  to  be  a  miner,  and 
no  longer  a  cattleman  or  farmer,  as  before.  It 
looked  as  though  the  towns  would  shrivel  up,  because 
of  the  tremendously  high  wages  demanded  by  the 
men  who  were  needed  there.  Cooks  in  San 
Francisco  were  paid  three  hundred  dollars  a  month, 
and  all  kinds  of  mechanics  secured  wages  of  fifteen 
or  twenty  dollars  a  day.  The  forts  found  it  impos 
sible  to  keep  soldiers  on  duty.  As  soon  as  men  were 
paid  off  they  rushed  to  the  American  River.  Sailors 
deserted  as  fast  as  they  could,  and  the  American 
war-ships  that  came  to  anchor  off  Monterey  did  not 
dare  to  allow  a  single  man  to  land.  Threats  of 
punishment  or  offers  of  reward  had  no  influence  over 


1 86  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

the  sailors.  They  all  felt  certain  they  could  make 
fortunes  in  a  month  at  the  gold  fields. 

Soon  men  began  to  wonder  whether  they  could 
not  duplicate  in  other  places  the  discovery  that 
Marshall  had  made  on  Sutter's  land.  Wherever 
there  was  a  river  or  stream  explorers  began  to  dig. 
They  were  well  rewarded.  Rich  placers  of  gold 
were  found  along  the  course  of  almost  all  the  streams 
that  flowed  to  the  Feather  and  San  Joaquin  Rivers. 
Along  the  course  of  the  Stanislaus  and  Toulumne 
Rivers  was  another  field  for  mining.  By  midsum 
mer  of  1848  settlers  in  southern  California  were 
pouring  north  in  thousands,  and  by  October  at  least 
ten  thousand  men  were  washing  and  screening  the 
soil  of  river  banks. 

The  Pacific  coast  was  very  far  away  from  the  rest 
of  the  United  States  in  that  day.  News  usually 
traveled  by  ship,  and  sailors  brought  the  report  of 
the  discovery  of  gold  to  Honolulu,  to  Oregon  City, 
and  to  the  ports  at  Victoria  and  Vancouver.  Letters 
carried  the  first  tidings  to  the  people  in  the  East, 
and  by  the  middle  of  the  summer  Washington  and 
New  York  had  learned  what  was  happening  in 
California,  and  adventurers  along  the  Atlantic  coast 
were  beginning  to  turn  their  faces  westward.  The 
letters  often  greatly  exaggerated  the  truth.  A  New 
York  paper  printed  reports  which  stated  that  men 
were  picking  gold  out  of  the  earth  as  easily  as  hogs 
could  root  up  groundnuts  in  a  forest.  One  man, 
who  employed  sixty  Indians,  was  said  to  be  making 


THE  GOLDEN  DAYS  OF  'FORTY-NINE     187 

a  dollar  a  minute.  Small  holes  along  the  banks  of 
streams  were  stated  to  yield  many  pounds  of  gold. 
But  even  allowing  for  much  exaggeration  it  was 
evident  that  men  were  making  fortunes  in  that 
country. 

Colonel  Mason,  in  charge  at  San  Francisco,  sent 
Lieutenant  Loeser  with  his  report  to  Washington. 
The  lieutenant  had  to  take  a  roundabout  route.  He 
went  from  Monterey  to  Peru,  from  there  to  Panama, 
across  the  Isthmus,  took  boat  to  Jamaica,  and  from 
there  he  sailed  to  New  Orleans.  When  he  reached 
the  capital  he  delivered  his  message,  and  showed  a 
small  tea  chest  which  held  three  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  gold  in  lumps  and  flakes.  This  chest  was 
placed  on  exhibition,  and  served  to  convince  those 
who  saw  it  that  California  must  possess  more  gold 
than  any  other  country  yet  discovered.  President 
Taylor  announced  the  news  in  an  official  message. 
He  said  that  the  mineral  had  been  found  in  such 
quantities  as  could  hardly  be  believed,  except  on  the 
word  of  government  officers  in  the  field.  During 
the  winter  of  1848-49  thousands  of  men  in  the  East 
planned  to  start  for  this  El  Dorado  as  soon  as  they 
could  get  their  outfits  together,  and  spring  should 
open  the  roads. 

The  overland  route  to  the  West  was  long  and  very 
difficult.  At  that  time,  though  the  voyage  by  sea 
was  longer,  it  was  easier  for  men  who  lived  on  the 
Atlantic  coast.  They  might  sail  around  Cape  Horn, 
or  to  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  or  to  Vera  Cruz,  and 


1 88  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

in  the  two  latter  cases  cross  land,  and  hope  to  find 
some  ship  in  the  western  ocean  that  would  take 
them  to  San  Francisco.  Business  men  in  the  East 
seized  the  opportunity  to  advertise  tents,  beds, 
blankets,  and  all  manner  of  camp  equipment,  as 
well  as  pans,  rockers,  and  every  kind  of  implement 
for  washing  gold  from  the  gravel.  The  owners  of 
ships  of  every  description,  many  of  them  unsea- 
worthy,  fitted  up  their  craft,  and  advertised  them  as 
ready  to  sail  for  San  Francisco.  The  ports  of  Boston, 
Salem,  Newburyport,  New  York,  Baltimore,  and  New 
Orleans  were  crowded  with  brigs  and  schooners 
loading  for  the  Pacific.  A  newspaper  in  New  York 
stated  that  ten  thousand  people  would  leave  for  the 
gold  country  within  a  month. 

All  sorts  of  schemes  were  tried.  Companies  were 
formed,  each  member  of  which  paid  one  hundred 
dollars  or  more  to  charter  a  ship  to  take  them  around 
the  Horn.  Almost  every  town  in  the  East  had  its 
California  Association,  made  up  of  adventurers  who 
wanted  to  make  their  fortunes  rapidly.  By  the  end 
of  January,  1849,  eighty  vessels  had  sailed  by  way 
of  Cape  Horn,  and  many  others  were  heading  for 
Vera  Cruz,  and  for  ports  on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama. 
The  newspapers  went  on  printing  fabulous  stories 
of  the  discoveries.  One  had  a  letter  stating  that 
lumps  of  gold  weighing  a  pound  had  been  found  in 
several  places.  Another  printed  a  letter  from  a  man 
who  said  he  would  return  in  a  few  months  with  a 
fortune  of  half  a  million  dollars  in  gold.  A  miner 


THE  GOLDEN  DAYS  OF  'FORTY-NINE     189 

was  said  to  have  arrived  in  Pittsburgh  with  eighty 
thousand  dollars  in  gold-dust  that  he  had  gathered 
in  a  few  weeks.  Whenever  men  met  they  discussed 
eagerly  the  one  absorbing  topic  of  the  fortunes  wait 
ing  on  the  coast. 

The  adventurers  who  sailed  around  Cape  Horn 
had  in  most  cases  the  easiest  voyages.  There  were 
plenty  of  veteran  sea-captains  ready  to  command  the 
ships.  A  Boston  merchant  organized  "  The  Mining 
and  Trading  Company,"  bought  a  full-rigged  vessel, 
sold  places  in  it  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  and 
sailed  from  Boston  early  in  January,  1849.  The  first 
place  at  which  she  touched  was  Tierra  del  Fuego, 
and  she  reached  Valparaiso  late  in  April.  There 
she  found  two  ships  from  Baltimore,  and  in  two  days 
four  more  arrived  from  New  York,  and  one  from 
Boston.  July  6th  she  entered  the  Golden  Gate  of 
San  Francisco,  and  found  it  crowded  with  vessels 
from  every  port.  The  ships  were  all  deserted,  and 
within  an  hour  all  this  ship's  crew  were  on  shore. 
The  town  itself  was  filled  with  bustle  and  noise. 
Gambling  was  practically  the  only  business  carried 
on,  and  the  stores  were  jammed  with  men  paying 
any  price  for  outfits  for  the  gold  country.  This 
company  chose  a  place  on  the  Mokelumne  River, 
and  hastened  there,  but  they  found  it  difficult  to 
work  on  a.  company  basis.  The  men  soon  scattered 
and  drifted  to  other  camps ;  some  of  them  found 
gold,  others  in  time  made  their  way  east  poorer 
than  when  they  came. 


190  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

Those  who  went  by  the  Isthmus  had  many  adven 
tures.  Two  hundred  young  men  sailed  to  Vera 
Cruz,  and  landed  at  that  quaint  old  Mexican  city 
There  they  were  told  that  bands  of  robbers  were 
prowling*  all  through  the  country,  that  their  horses 
would  die  of  starvation  in  the  mountains,  and  that 
they  would  probably  be  killed,  or  lose  themselves 
on  the  wild  trail.  Fifty  of  them  decided  not  to  go 
farther,  and  sailed  back  in  a  homeward-bound  ship 
to  New  York.  Those  who  went  on  were  attacked 
by  a  mob  at  the  town  of  Jalapa,  and  had  to  fight 
their  way  through  at  the  point  of  revolvers.  In 
several  wild  passes  bandits  tried  to  hold  them  up, 
but  the  Easterners  put  them  to  flight  and  pushed  on 
their  way.  All  through  the  country  they  found  relics 
and  wreckage  of  the  recent  days  when  General  Scott 
had  marched  an  army  into  Mexico. 

There  was  more  trouble  at  Mexico  City.  A  re 
ligious  procession  was  passing  along  the  plaza,  and 
the  Americans  did  not  fall  upon  their  knees.  The 
crowd  set  upon  them,  and  they  had  to  form  a  square 
for  their  protection,  and  hold  the  mob  at  bay  until 
Mexican  officers  came  to  their  rescue.  Only  after 
fighting  a  path  through  other  towns  and  a  long 
march  did  they  reach  the  seaport  of  San  Bias.  One 
hundred  and  twenty  of  them  took  ship  from  there  to 
San  Francisco.  Thirty,  however,  had  left  the  others 
at  Mexico  City,  thinking  they  could  reach  the  sea- 
coast  more  quickly  by  another  route.  The  ship 
they  caught  could  get  no  farther  than  San  Diego. 


THE  GOLDEN  DAYS  OF  'FORTY-NINE     191 

From  there  they  had  to  march  on  foot  across  a 
blazing  desert  country.  Their  food  gave  out,  and 
they  lived  on  lizards,  birds,  rattlesnakes,  and  even 
buzzards,  anything  they  could  find.  Worn  and 
almost  starving  they  reached  San  Francisco,  ten 
months  after  they  had  left  New  York.  Such  ad 
ventures  were  common  to  the  American  Argonauts 
of  1849. 

Those  gold-seekers  who  went  by  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama  had  to  stop  at  the  little  settlement  of  Chagres, 
where  one  hundred  huts  of  bamboo  stood  on  the 
ruins  of  the  old  Spanish  fort  of  San  Lorenzo.  The 
natives,  lazy  and  half-clad,  gazed  in  astonishment  at 
the  scores  of  men  from  the  eastern  United  States, 
who  suddenly  began  to  hurry  through  their  town. 
Here  the  gold-hunters  bargained  for  river  boats, 
which  were  usually  rude  dugouts,  with  roofs  made  of 
palmetto  branches  and  leaves,  and  rowed  by  natives. 
It  was  impossible  with  such  rowers  to  make  much 
speed  against  the  strong  current  of  the  Chagres 
River.  Three  days  were  required  to  make  the  jour 
ney  to  Gorgona,  where  the  travelers  usually  landed. 
At  this  place  they  had  to  bargain  afresh  for  pack- 
mules  to  carry  them  the  twenty-four  miles  that  lay 
between  Gorgona  and  Panama.  Many  men,  who 
could  not  find  any  mules  left  in  the  town,  deserted 
their  baggage  and  started  for  the  Pacific  coast  on 
foot.  The  chances  were  that  no  ship  would  be  wait 
ing  for  them  there,  and  they  would  have  to  warm 
their  heels  in  idleness  for  days. 


192  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

General  Persifor  F.  Smith,  who  had  been  ordered 
to  take  command  of  the  United  States  troops  at 
San  Francisco,  was  one  of  those  who  had  to  wait  for 
a  ship  at  Panama.  Here  he  heard  reports  that  a 
good  deal  of  the  new-found  gold  was  being  sent  to 
foreign  countries.  Some  said  that  the  British  Consul 
had  forwarded  fifteen  thousand  ounces  of  California 
gold  to  England,  and  that  more  than  nine  million 
francs'  worth  of  the  mineral  had  been  received  in  the 
South  American  ports  of  Lima  and  Valparaiso.  As 
a  result  hundreds  of  men  from  those  ports  were  tak 
ing  ship  to  California.  General  Smith  did  not  like  the 
idea  of  foreigners  profiting  by  the  discovery  of  gold 
in  California,  and  issued  an  order  that  only  citizens 
of  the  United  States  should  be  allowed  to  enter  the 
public  lands  where  the  diggings  were  located.  When 
the  California,  a  steamship  from  New  York,  reached 
Panama  in  January,  1849,  with  seventy-five  Peru 
vians  on  board,  General  Smith  warned  them  that 
they  would  not  be  allowed  to  go  to  the  mines,  and 
sent  word  of  this  order  to  consuls  along  the  Pacific 
coast  of  South  America.  In  spite  of  his  efforts,  how 
ever,  foreigners  would  go  to  Upper  California,  and 
the  American  prospectors  were  too  busy  with  their 
own  searches  to  prevent  the  strangers  from  taking 
what  gold  they  could  find. 

When  the  California  arrived  at  Panama  she  was 
already  well  filled  with  passengers,  but  there  were 
so  many  men  waiting  for  her  that  the  captain  had 
to  give  in  to  their  demands,  and  crowd  his  vessel  with 


THE  GOLDEN  DAYS  OF  'FORTY-NINE     193 

several  hundred  more  gold-seekers.  Loaded  with 
impatient  voyagers,  the  steamship  sailed  up  the 
coast,  and  reached  San  Francisco  about  the  end  of 
February.  Immediately  every  one  on  board,  except 
the  captain,  the  mate,  and  the  purser,  deserted  the 
ship,  and  dashed  for  the  gold  fields.  The  next 
steamer  to  reach  Panama,  the  Oregon,  found  an  even 
larger  crowd  waiting  at  that  port.  She  took  more 
passengers  on  board  than  she  was  intended  to  carry, 
but  fortune  favored  the  gold-seekers,  and  the  Oregon, 
like  the  California,  discharged  her  adventurous  cargo 
in  safety  at  San  Francisco.  Hundreds  of  others  who 
could  not  board  either  of  these  steamers  ventured  on 
the  Pacific  in  small  sailing  vessels,  or  any  manner  of 
ship  that  would  put  out  from  Panama  bound  north. 
It  is  interesting  to  know  the  story  of  some  of  these 
pilgrimages.  One  of  the  Argonauts  has  told  how  he 
organized,  in  a  little  New  England  town,  a  company 
of  twenty  men.  Each  man  subscribed  a  certain  sum 
of  money  in  return  for  a  share  in  any  profits,  and  in 
this  way  ten  thousand  dollars  was  raised.  The  men 
who  were  to  go  on  the  expedition  signed  a  paper 
agreeing  to  work  at  least  two  years  in  the  gold  fields 
for  the  company.  The  band  went  from  the  New 
England  town  to  New  York,  where  they  found  the 
harbor  filled  with  ships  that  were  advertised  to  sail 
for  Nicaragua,  Vera  Cruz,  or  Chagres.  The  leader 
of  the  company  chose  a  little  brig  bound  for  the  latter 
port,  and  in  this  the  party,  with  some  twenty-five 
other  passengers,  set  sail  in  March.  They  ran  into 


194  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

a  heavy  storm,  but  in  three  weeks  reached  the  port 
on  the  Isthmus.  There  they  had  to  wait  some  days, 
as  all  the  river  boats  had  gone  up  to  Gorgona, 
When  the  boats  were  ready,  thirty  natives  poled  ten 
dugouts  up  the  river.  When  the  men  landed  they 
were  told  that  there  was  no  ship  at  Panama ;  that 
half  the  gold-seekers  in  that  town  were  ill,  and  that 
there  was  no  use  in  pushing  on.  So  the  party  built 
tents  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  and  stayed  there  until 
the  rainy  season  drove  them  to  the  coast.  There 
they  camped  again,  and  waited  for  a  ship  to  arrive. 
There  was  one  vessel  anchored  in  the  harbor,  but  the 
owner  was  under  a  bond  to  keep  it  there  as  a  coal- 
ship.  The  leader  of  the  company,  however,  per 
suaded  the  owner  to  forfeit  this  bond,  and  four  hun 
dred  waiting  passengers  paid  two  hundred  dollars 
apiece  to  be  conveyed  to  California.  The  ship  was 
hardly  seaworthy,  and  took  seven  weeks  of  sailing 
and  floating  to  reach  the  harbor  of  Acapulco.  There 
the  vessel  was  greeted  by  a  band  of  twenty  Ameri 
cans,  ragged  and  penniless,  who  had  come  on  foot 
from  the  City  of  Mexico.  They  had  waited  so  long 
for  a  ship  that  twenty  of  the  passengers  agreed  to 
give  them  their  tickets,  and  take  their  places  to  wait 
until  the  next  vessel  should  arrive.  It  was  almost 
seven  months  after  that  New  England  party  had  left 
New  York  before  they  arrived  at,  the  Golden  Gate  of 
San  Francisco. 

There  was  very  little  choice  between  the  Panama 
and  the  Nicaragua  routes  to  the  West.    Among  those 


THE  GOLDEN  DAYS  OF  'FORTY-NINE     195 

who  tried  the  latter  road  were  a  number  of  young 
men  who  had  just  graduated  from  Yale  College. 
They  boarded  a  ship  in  New  York  that  was  adver 
tised  to  sail  during  the  first  week  in  February,  and 
expected  to  land  in  San  Francisco  in  sixty  days.  It 
was  March,  however,  before  the  ship,  crowded  with 
voyagers,  set  sail  south  from  Sandy  Hook.  Three 
weeks  brought  her  to  the  mouth  of  the  San  Juan 
River.  The  ship's  company  was  landed  at  the 
little  tropical  town  of  San  Juan  de  Nicaragua. 
A  small  steamboat  had  been  brought  along  to 
take  them  up  the  river,  but  when  the  machinery 
was  put  together  the  boat  was  found  to  be 
worthless.  Like  the  voyagers  by  Panama,  these 
men  then  had  to  trust  to  native  dugouts,  and  in  this 
way  they  finally  got  up  the  river  to  San  Carlos. 
Had  it  not  been  for  their  eagerness  to  reach  Cali 
fornia  such  a  trip  would  have  been  a  delight  to  men 
who  had  never  seen  the  tropics  before.  The  San 
Juan  River  flowed  through  forests  of  strange  and 
beautiful  trees.  Tamarind  and  dyewood  trees,  tall 
palms,  and  giant  cacti,  festooned  with  bright-colored 
vines,  made  a  background  for  the  brilliant  birds 
that  flew  through  the  woods.  Fruit  was  to  be  had 
for  the  taking,  and  the  weather  at  that  time  of  the 
year  was  delightful.  But  the  thought  of  the  fortunes 
waiting  to  be  picked  up  in  California  filled  the  minds 
of  most  of  the  travelers. 

After  leaving  the  boats  this  party  traveled  by  mule 
to  Leon.     Nicaragua  was  in  the  midst  of  a  revolu- 


I96  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

tion,  and  the  Americans  acted  as  a  guard  to  the 
President  on  the  road  to  Leon.  Near  the  end  of 
July  the  company  separated.  Some  finally  sailed 
from  the  port  of  Realejo,  and  after  many  dangers 
and  a  voyage  of  almost  five  months  succeeded  in 
reaching  San  Francisco.  Others  reached  Panama, 
set  sail  in  a  small  boat,  and  were  never  heard  from 
again  ;  while  yet  a  third  party  boarded  a  vessel  at  a 
Nicaraguan  port,  and  managed  to  reach  California 
after  almost  perishing  from  hunger  and  thirst. 

Such  were  the  adventures  of  some  of  those  who 
tried  to  reach  the  gold  fields  of  the  West  by  sea. 
Hundreds  of  men  made  the  trip  by  one  of  these 
routes,  and  as  soon  as  spring  arrived  thousands  set 
out  overland.  It  was  understood  that  large  parties 
would  leave  from  western  Missouri  early  in  March, 
and  as  a  result  many  men,  some  alone,  some  in 
bands  of  twenty  or  thirty,  gathered  there  from  all 
parts  of  the  East.  Sometimes  they  formed  military 
companies,  wore  uniforms,  and  carried  rifles.  The 
main  place  of  gathering  was  the  town  of  Independ 
ence,  which  grew  to  the  size  of  a  large  city  in  a  few 
weeks.  Men  came  on  foot  and  on  horseback  ;  some 
with  canvas-covered  wagons,  prairie  schooners,  and 
pack-mules  ;  some  with  herds  of  cattle  ;  some  bring 
ing  with  them  all  their  household  goods.  All  the 
Middle  West  seemed  to  be  in  motion.  In  a  single 
week  in  March,  1849,  hundreds  of  wagons  drove 
through  Burlington,  Iowa.  Two  hundred  from 
Memphis  went  along  the  Arkansas  River,  and  hun- 


THE  GOLDEN  DAYS  OF  'FORTY-NINE     197 

dreds  more  from  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  and 
Pennsylvania  crossed  the  border  of  Iowa. 

The  spring  was  late,  and  as  the  overland  trip  could 
not  be  taken  until  the  grass  was  high  enough  to  feed 
the  cattle,  the  great  company  had  to  wait  along  the 
frontiers  from  Independence  to  Council  Bluffs.  As 
men  gathered  at  these  towns  they  would  form  into 
companies,  and  then  move  on  to  a  more  distant 
point,  in  order  to  make  room  for  later  arrivals. 
Twenty  thousand  gathered  along  these  frontiers  be 
fore  the  signal  was  given  to  start  westward.  The 
march  began  about  May  ist,  and  from  then  on,  day 
and  night,  scores  of  wagons  crossed  the  Missouri 
River,  and  the  country  looked  like  a  field  of  tents. 

From  Independence  most  of  the  emigrants  crossed 
rolling  prairies  for  fifteen  days  to  the  Platte  River  at 
Grand  Island.  The  route  then  wound  up  the  valley 
of  the  Platte  to  the  South  Fork,  and  from  there  to  the 
North  Fork,  where  a  rude  post-office  had  been  built, 
at  which  letters  might  be  left  to  be  carried  back  east 
by  any  travelers  who  were  going  in  that  direction. 
From  here  the  emigrants  journeyed  to  the  mountain 
passes.  They  usually  stopped  at  Laramie,  which 
was  the  farthest  western  fort  of  the  United  States. 
By  this  time  the  long  journey  would  be  telling  on 
many  of  the  companies,  and  the  road  be  strewn  with 
all  sorts  of  household  goods,  thrown  away  in  order 
to  lighten  the  burden  on  the  horses. 

At  the  South  Pass,  midway  of  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains,  two  roads  divided  ;  those  who  took  the  south- 


198  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

ern  road  traveled  by  the  Great  Salt  Lake  to  the  Sierra 
Nevada  Mountains,  and  so  into  California.  The 
northern  road  lay  partly  along  the  course  of  the 
Snake  River  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Humboldt, 
and  from  there  the  emigrants  might  choose  a  path 
still  farther  to  the  north  toward  the  Columbia  River, 
or  westward  to  the  Sacramento.  Many  went  by  the 
trail  along  the  Humboldt,  although  this  route  was 
one  of  the  most  difficult.  "  The  river  had  no  cur 
rent,"  said  one  of  the  gold-hunters.  "  No  fish  could 
live  in  its  waters,  which  wound  through  a  desert,  and 
there  was  not  enough  wood  in  the  whole  valley  to 
make  a  snuff-box,  nor  vegetation  enough  on  its  banks 
to  shelter  a  rabbit.  The  stream  flowed  through 
desert  sands,  which  the  summer  heat  made  almost 
unbearable  for  men  and  horses."  Following  its 
course  the  travelers  came  to  a  lake  of  mud,  sur 
rounded  for  miles  by  a  sandy  plain.  Across  this 
they  had  to  march  for  thirty-four  hours  to  reach  the 
Carson  River.  Along  the  trail  lay  the  bodies  of 
horses,  mules,  and  oxen,  and  broken  wagons  parched 
and  dried  out  in  the  blazing  sun. 

The  first  of  the  overland  travelers  who  crossed  the 
mountains  late  in  the  summer  brought  such  reports 
to  the  officers  at  the  Pacific  posts  that  the  latter 
decided  that  relief  parties  must  be  sent  back  to  help 
those  who  were  still  toiling  in  the  desert.  It  was 
known  that  some  had  been  attacked  by  Indians,  and 
obliged  to  leave  their  covered  wagons  ;  that  some 
had  lost  all  their  cattle,  and  were  almost  without 


THE  GOLDEN  DAYS  OF  'FORTY-NINE     199 

food.  Therefore  relief  parties  were  hurried  into  the 
mountains  from  the  western  side.  They  found  the 
overland  trail  crowded  with  men  on  foot  and  in 
wagons.  Many  were  sick,  and  almost  all  were 
hungry.  One  man  carried  a  child  in  his  arms,  while 
a  little  boy  trudged  by  his  side,  and  his  invalid  wife 
rode  on  a  mule  The  soldiers  gave  food  to  all  who 
needed  it,  and  urged  them  to  push  on  to  the  army 
posts.  Day  after  day  they  met  the  same  stream  of 
emigrants,  all  bent  on  reaching  the  golden  fields  of 
California. 

Late  in  the  autumn,  with  winter  almost  at  hand, 
the  voyagers  were  still  crossing  the  deserts  and 
mountains.  The  soldiers  could  not  induce  many 
of  them  to  throw  away  any  of  their  goods.  They 
crept  along  slowly,  their  wagons  loaded  from  base 
board  to  roof.  The  teams,  gradually  exhausted, 
began  to  fall,  and  progress  was  almost  impossible. 
Then  the  rescuers  hurried  the  women  to  near-by 
settlements,  and  forced  the  men  to  abandon  some  of 
their  baggage  in  an  effort  to  reach  shelter  before  the 
winter  storms  should  come.  By  the  end  of  Novem 
ber  almost  all  the  overland  emigrants  had  crossed 
the  mountains. 

The  city  of  San  Francisco  had  sprung  up  almost 
overnight.  In  1835  a  Captain  Richardson  had 
landed  on  the  shore  of  Yerba  Buena  Cove,  and 
built  a  hut  of  four  redwood  posts,  covered  by  a 
sail.  Five  years  afterward  this  village  of  Yerba 
Buena  contained  about  fifty  people  and  a  dozen 


200  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

houses.  In  1846  the  American  war-ship  Portsmouth 
anchored  there,  and  her  captain  raised  the  "  Stars 
and  Stripes"  on  the  Plaza.  At  that  time  there 
were  not  more  than  fifty  houses  and  two  hundred 
people.  When  the  town  became  American  the 
Plaza  was  renamed  Portsmouth  Square,  and  a  year 
later  the  settlement  was  christened  San  Francisco. 
That  was  in  January,  1847  ;  and  by  midsummer 
of  1849  the  town  had  become  a  city.  It  was  an 
odd  place  to  look  at.  The  houses  were  made  of 
rough  unpainted  boards,  with  cotton  nailed  across 
the  walls  and  ceiling  in  place  of  plaster ;  and  many 
a  thriving  business  was  carried  on  in  canvas  tents. 
There  were  few  homes.  The  city  was  crowded ; 
but  most  of  the  population  did  not  intend  to  stay. 
They  came  to  buy  what  they  needed,  or  sell  what 
they  brought  with  them,  and  then  hasten  away 
to  the  mines.  So  many  eager  strangers  naturally 
drove  the  prices  up  enormously,  especially  when  it 
seemed  as  though  gold  could  be  had  for  the  taking. 
The  restaurants  charged  three  dollars  for  a  cup 
of  coffee,  a  slice  of  ham,  and  two  eggs.  Houses 
and  lots  sold  for  from  ten  thousand  to  seventy- 
five  thousand  dollars  each,  and  everything  else 
was  in  proportion.  What  happened  in  San  Fran 
cisco  also  happened  in  many  other  California  towns. 
Sacramento  was  the  result  of  the  gold-craze.  Specu 
lators  bought  large  tracts  of  land  in  any  attractive 
place,  gave  it  a  high-sounding  name,  and  sold  city 
lots.  Many  of  these  so-called  cities,  however,  shriv- 


THE  TEAMS,  EXHAUSTED,  BEGAN  TO  FAIL 


THE  GOLDEN  DAYS  OF  'FORTY-NINE    201 

eled  up  within  a  year  or  two.  The  seaports  flour 
ished  because  they  were  the  gateways  through 
which  the  newcomers  passed  in  their  rush  to  locate 
in  the  gold  country. 

These  seaports  became  the  goal  of  merchants 
everywhere.  Necessary  articles  were  so  scarce  that 
they  were  shipped  long  distances.  Flour  was 
brought  from  Australia  and  Chili,  rice  and  sugar 
from  China,  and  the  cities  along  the  Atlantic  pro 
vided  the  dry-goods,  the  tools,  and  the  furniture. 
At  one  time  a  cotton  shirt  would  sell  for  forty 
dollars,  a  tin  pan  for  nine,  and  a  candle  for  three. 
But  on  the  other  hand  cargoes  of  goods  that  were 
not  needed,  silks  and  satins,  costly  house-furnish 
ings,  were  left  on  the  beaches  and  finally  sold  for  a 
song. 

From  the  seaports  the  new  arrivals  hurried  either 
up  the  Sacramento  and  the  Feather  Rivers  to  the 
northern  gold  fields,  or  up  the  San  Joaquin  to  the 
southern  country.  Usually  they  were  guided  by 
the  latest  story  of  a  rich  find,  and  went  where 
the  chances  seemed  best.  Several  men  would  join 
forces  and  pitch  their  tents  together,  naming  their 
camp  Rat-trap  Slide,  Rough  and  Ready  Camp, 
Slap-jack  Bar,  Mad  Mule  Gulch,  Git-up-and-Git, 
You  Bet,  or  any  other  name  that  struck  their  fancy. 
There  were  no  laws  to  govern  these  little  settle 
ments,  and  the  men  adopted  a  rough  system  of 
justice  that  suited  themselves.  But  as  the  numbers 
increased  it  was  evident  that  California  must  have  a 


202  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

better  form  of  government,  and  steps  were  taken  t& 
have  that  rich  stretch  of  land  along  the  Pacific 
admitted  as  a  state  to  the  United  States. 

In  three  years  California  had  grown  from  the 
home  of  about  two  thousand  people  to  the  home 
of  eighty  thousand.  The  finding  of  gold  had 
changed  that  almost  unknown  wilderness  into  a 
thriving  land  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  Rail 
roads  were  built  to  reach  it,  and  more  and  more 
men  poured  west.  Some  men  made  great  fortunes, 
but  more  in  a  few  months  abandoned  their  claims 
and  drifted  to  the  cities,  or  made  their  way  slowly 
back  to  the  eastern  farms  and  villages  from  which 
they  had  set  out.  The  Forty-niners,  as  the  gold- 
seekers  were  called,  found  plenty  of  adventure  in 
California,  even  if  they  did  not  all  find  a  short-cut  to 
wealth. 


IX 

HOW  THE  UNITED  STATES  MADE 
FRIENDS  WITH  JAPAN 

ONE  of  the  beautiful  names  that  the  Japanese 
have  given  to  their  country  is  "  Land  of  Great 
Peace,"  and  at  no  time  was  this  name  more  appro 
priate  than  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
Two  hundred  years  before  the  last  of  the  civil 
wars  of  Japan  had  come  to  an  end,  and  the  people, 
weary  of  years  of  bloodshed,  had  turned  delightedly 
to  peaceful  ways.  The  rice-fields  were  replanted, 
artisans  returned  to  their  crafts,  shops  opened  again, 
and  poets  and  painters  followed  the  call  of  their 
arts.  The  samurai,  or  warriors,  sheathed  their 
swords,  though  they  still  regarded  them  as  their 
very  souls.  They  hung  their  armor  in  their  an 
cestral  halls,  and  spent  their  time  in  sport  or  idle 
ness.  The  daimios,  or  nobles  of  Japan,  lived  either 
in  the  city  of  Yedo  or  at  their  country  houses, 
taking  their  ease,  and  gradually  forgetting  the  arts 
of  war  on  which  their  power  had  been  founded. 
All  the  people  were  quite  contented,  and  had  no 
desire  to  trade  with  the  rest  of  the  world.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  they  knew  almost  nothing  about 
other  countries,  except  through  English  or  Russian 


204  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

sailors  who  occasionally  landed  on  their  coasts. 
Japan  was  satisfied  to  be  a  hermit  nation. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  seventh  day  of  July, 
1853,  or  the  third  day  of  the  sixth  month  of  Kayei, 
in  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Komei,  the  farmers 
working  in  the  muddy  rice-fields  near  the  village  of 
Uraga  saw  a  strange  sight.  It  was  a  clear  summer 
afternoon,  and  the  beautiful  mountain  Fuji,  its  cone 
wreathed  in  white  clouds,  could  be  seen  from  sea 
and  shore.  What  startled  the  men  in  the  fields, 
the  people  in  the  village,  and  the  boatmen  in  the 
harbor,  was  a  fleet  of  vessels  coming  to  anchor 
in  the  bay  of  Yedo.  These  monsters,  with  their 
sails  furled,  although  they  were  heading  against 
the  wind,  were  shooting  tongues  of  smoke  from 
their  great  black  throats.  "  See  the  fire-vessels  ! " 
cried  the  Japanese  to  each  other.  When  the  peas 
ants  asked  the  priests  where  the  monsters  came 
from  the  wise  men  answered  that  they  were  the 
fire-vessels  of  the  barbarians  who  lived  in  the 
West. 

The  monsters  were  four  ships  of  the  United  States 
navy,  the  Mississippi,  Susquehanna,  Plymouth,  and 
Saratoga,  all  under  command  of  Commodore  Mat 
thew  Calbraith  Perry.  The  fleet  dropped  anchor  in 
the  wide  bay,  forming  a  line  broadside  to  the  shore. 
The  gun-ports  were  opened,  and  sentries  set  to 
guard  against  attack  by  pirates,  or  by  fire-junks. 
As  the  anchors  splashed  in  the  water  rockets  shot 
up  from  one  of  the  forts  on  shore  signaling  to  the 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  JAPAN      205 

court  at  Yedo  that  the  barbarians  had  reached 
Japan. 

The  town  of  Uraga  was  usually  not  a  very  busy 
place,  and  the  government  officers  spent  their  time 
drinking  tea,  smoking,  and  lounging  in  the  sun,  and 
occasionally  collecting  custom  duties  from  junks 
bound  to  other  harbors.  But  there  was  a  great  bus 
tle  on  the  day  the  strange  ships  arrived.  The  chief 
magistrate,  or  bunio,  his  interpreter,  and  suite  of  at 
tendants,  put  on  their  formal  dress  of  hempen  cloth, 
and  fastened  their  lacquered  ornamented  hats  to  their 
heads ;  with  two  swords  in  each  belt,  the  party 
marched  to  the  shore  and  boarded  their  state  barge. 
Twelve  oarsmen  rowed  it  to  the  nearest  foreign  ship, 
but  when  they  tried  to  fasten  ropes  to  the  vessel  so 
that  they  might  go  on  board,  the  barbarians  threw 
off  the  ropes,  and  gestured  to  them  to  keep  away. 

The  Japanese  officer  was  surprised  to  find  that, 
although  he  was  gorgeously  robed,  and  his  compan 
ions  carried  spears  and  the  Tokugawa  trefoil  flag, 
the  barbarians  were  not  at  all  impressed.  They  told 
him,  through  an  interpreter,  that  their  commander 
wished  to  confer  with  the  governor  himself.  The 
officer  answered  that  the  governor  was  not  allowed 
to  board  foreign  ships.  After  some  further  discus 
sion  the  surprised  Japanese  was  permitted  to  climb 
the  gangway  ladder  and  meet  the  barbarians  on  the 
deck  of  their  vessel. 

Commodore  Perry  knew  that  the  Japanese  loved 
mystery,  high-sounding  names,  and  ceremonies,  and 


206  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

so  he  stayed  in  his  cabin  and  would  not  show  him 
self  to  the  visitors.  A  secretary  carried  his  messages, 
and  explained  that  the  mysterious  commodore  had 
come  on  a  friendly  mission  and  bore  a  letter  from  the 
President  of  the  United  States  to  the  Emperor  of 
Japan,  which  he  wished  to  present  with  all  proper 
ceremony.  He  declined  to  go  to  Nagasaki,  and  in 
sisted  that  he  should  remain  in  Yedo  Bay,  and 
added  that  although  his  visit  was  entirely  friendly, 
he  would  not  allow  any  inquisitive  sightseers  to 
prowl  about  his  fleet.  Very  much  impressed  with 
the  power  of  this  hidden  barbarian,  the  Japanese 
officer  immediately  ordered  all  the  small  boats,  the 
punts  and  sampans  that  had  gathered  about  the 
fleet,  to  row  away. 

The  officer  and  his  body-guard  returned  to  shore, 
and  told  the  villagers  that  the  visitors  were  very  re 
markable  men,  who  were  not  at  all  impressed  by 
their  costumes  or  weapons.  The  Japanese  had  no 
such  title  as  commodore  in  their  language,  and  they 
referred  to  Perry  as  Admiral,  and  credited  him  with 
almost  as  much  majesty  as  their  own  hidden  Mikado, 
or  as  the  mighty  Shogun. 

The  western  coast  of  Japan  was  much  excited  that 
night.  Rockets  from  the  forts,  and  huge  watch-fires 
on  the  cliffs^  told  the  whole  country  that  a  most  un 
usual  event  had  happened.  The  peasants  set  out 
their  sacred  images,  and  prayed  to  them  as  they  had 
not  done  in  years.  It  was  evident  that  the  gods  of 
Japan  were  punishing  the  people  for  their  neglect  by 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  JAPAN      207 

sending  these  great  fire-vessels  to  disturb  the  coast. 
To  add  to  the  general  excitement  a  wonderful  light 
appeared  in  the  sky  about  midnight,  spreading  a 
pale  red  and  blue  path  across  the  heavens,  as  though 
a  dragon  were  flying  through  space.  Priests  and 
soothsayers  made  the  most  of  this  display  of  North 
ern  Lights,  and  pointed  out  that  the  fire-vessels, 
clearly  revealed  in  the  harbor,  must  have  something 
to  do  with  the  strange  omen. 

The  governor  of  Uraga  himself,  with  a  retinue  of 
servants,  all  clad  in  embroidered  gowns  and  lac 
quered  helmets,  and  each  carrying  two  swords,  went 
out  to  the  flag-ship  next  morning.  He  had  evidently 
overlooked  the  fact  that  the  barbarians  had  been  told 
on  the  day  before  that  the  governor  could  not  pay 
such  a  visit  to  their  fleet.  The  governor  was  used 
to  being  received  with  a  great  deal  of  attention,  and 
to  having  people  bow  to  the  ground  as  he  went  by ; 
but  on  the  deck  of  the  Susquehanna  the  sailors 
looked  at  him  with  simple  curiosity,  and  when  he 
asked  to  speak  with  the  mysterious  admiral,  he  was 
told  that  he  would  only  be  allowed  to  speak  with  the 
captains.  These  men  said  that  their  commander 
would  only  wait  three  days  for  an  answer  from  Yedo 
as  to  whether  the  Mikado  would  receive  the  letter  of 
the  President.  They  showed  him  the  magnificent 
box  that  held  the  letter,  and  the  governor's  curiosity 
grew  even  greater.  When  he  left  the  flag-ship  he 
had  promised  to  urge  the  Americans*  cause. 

Next  day,  the  men  dressed  in  silk  and  brocade, 


208  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

painted  helmets,  and  gleaming  sashes,  eager  to  visit 
the  ships  again,  were  surprised  to  learn  that  the  bar 
barian  prince  would  transact  no  business.  His  in 
terpreter  declared  that  it  was  a  day  of  religious  ob 
servance,  known  as  Sunday.  The  people  on  shore 
heard  the  sailors  of  the  fleet  singing  hymns,  a  strange 
sound  in  those  waters.  Hastily  the  Japanese  offered 
new  presents  at  the  shrines  of  their  own  gods  to  en 
sure  protection  from  the  barbarians. 

By  now  the  hermit  people  thought  they  might 
have  to  guard  themselves,  and  began  to  build  earth 
works  along  the  shore.  Farmers,  fishermen,  shop 
keepers,  women,  and  children  were  pressed  into 
service.  Rude  embankments  were  thrown  up,  and 
enormously  heavy  brass  cannon  were  placed  at  open 
ings.  The  old  samurai,  who  had  almost  forgotten 
warfare,  sought  out  their  weapons,  and  gathered 
their  troops.  Their  armor  consisted  of  jackets  of 
silk,  iron  and  paper.  Their  arms  were  old  match 
locks  and  spears.  They  could  have  fought  each 
other,  but  they  were  several  hundred  years  behind 
the  barbarians  in  military  matters.  On  the  hills  they 
set  up  canvas  tents,  with  flags  bearing  flaming 
dragons  and  the  other  emblems  of  their  clans.  In 
the  days  of  their  civil  wars  bright-colored  trappings 
had  played  an  important  part. 

Yedo  was  then  the  chief  city  of  Japan.  When 
Perry  arrived  in  1853  it  was  the  home  of  the  Shogun 
lyeyoshi,  who  was  the  real  ruler  of  the  land,  although 
the  Mikado  was  called  the  sovereign.  Yedo  had 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  JAPAN      209 

been  the  home  of  a  long  line  of  Shoguns  of  the 
Tokugawa  family  who  had  ruled  the  country,  calling 
themselves  "  Tycoons."  They  had  built  up  the  city, 
and  filled  it  with  palaces  and  temples  that  had  never 
been  equaled  in  magnificence.  The  people  of  Yedo, 
numbering  over  a  million,  were  greatly  excited  when 
they  heard  of  the  fleet  of  war-ships  lying  in  their 
great  bay.  The  Shogun,  his  courtiers  and  his  war 
riors  bestirred  themselves  at  once.  Soldiers  were 
summoned,  armor  polished,  swords  unsheathed, 
castles  repaired,  and  everything  possible  done  to 
make  an  impression  on  the  strangers. 

The  chief  men  knew  that  they  could  not  oppose 
this  foreign  admiral.  Once  they  had  had  war- 
vessels  of  their  own,  but  years  of  peace  had  reduced 
their  navy,  and  they  could  not  defend  their  coasts. 
The  Shogun  was  afraid  that  the  admiral  might  insist 
upon  seeing  the  Mikado  at  Ki5to,  and  that  would  be 
a  great  blow  to  his  own  dignity.  After  hours  of 
debate  and  discussion  he  chose  two  daimios  to 
receive  the  letter  of  the  American  President,  Millard 
Fillmore,  and  sent  word  to  all  coast  towns  to  man 
their  forts. 

Perry  had  played  the  game  well,  and  so  far  had 
allowed  no  Japanese  to  see  him.  He  wanted  to 
make  a  treaty  with  Japan,  and  he  knew  that  to  suc 
ceed  he  must  impress  this  Oriental  people  with  his 
dignity.  He  allowed  his  captains  and  two  daimios 
to  arrange  a  meeting  to  be  held  at  a  little  town 
called  Kurihama,  near  the  port  of  Uraga.  Each 


210  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

side  had  tried  to  outdo  the  other  in  politeness.  The 
American  captains  had  received  the  Japanese  officers 
with  great  respect,  had  served  them  wines,  and  seated 
them  in  upholstered  armchairs.  The  Japanese 
regretted  that  they  could  not  provide  their  guests 
with  armchairs  or  with  wine  on  shore,  but  the  visitors 
assured  them  that  they  would  be  willing  to  adopt 
Japanese  customs. 

By  July  1 3th  the  scene  for  the  meeting  was  ready. 
Hundreds  of  yards  of  canvas,  with  the  Tokugawa 
trefoil,  had  been  stretched  along  the  road  to  Kurihama. 
Hundreds  of  retainers,  clad  in  all  the  colors  of  their 
feudal  days,  were  gathered  about  the  tents,  and  on 
the  beach  stood  as  many  soldiers,  glittering  in  their 
lacquered  armor.  The  American  officers  were  al 
most  as  brilliantly  dressed  as  the  Japanese.  They 
wore  coats  with  a  great  many  bright  brass  buttons, 
and  curious  shaped  hats  cocked  on  their  heads. 
They  brought  musicians  with  them  who  played  on 
cornets  and  drums,  and  the  music  was  quite  unlike 
anything  the  natives  had  ever  heard  before.  Three 
hundred  of  the  barbarians  landed  and  marched 
from  the  beach  to  the  main  tent,  while  the  eager-eyed 
people  lined  the  road  and  wondered  at  their  strange 
appearance. 

Two  or  three  big  sailors  carried  the  American 
flag,  and  back  of  them  came  two  boys  with  the 
mysterious  red  box  that  had  been  shown  to  the 
officers  of  the  port.  Back  of  them  marched  the 
great  commodore,  clad  in  full  uniform,  and  on  either 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  JAPAN      211 

side  of  him  strode  a  black  man  armed  with  a  large 
sabre.  Many  of  the  Japanese  had  never  seen  a  white 
man  before,  and  still  fewer  had  ever  looked  upon  a 
negro.  They  were  therefore  very  much  impressed 
by  the  procession. 

The  officers  of  the  Shogun  received  their  magnifi 
cent  visitor  at  the  door  of  the  pavilion.  After  greet 
ings  the  two  boys  handed  the  box  to  the  negro 
guards,  who  opened  the  scarlet  cloth  envelope  and  the 
gold-hinged  rosewood  cases,  and  laid  the  President's 
letter  on  a  lacquered  stand  brought  from  Yedo. 
A  receipt  for  the  President's  letter  was  then  handed 
to  the  commodore,  who  said  that  he  would  return  to 
Japan  the  next  spring,  probably  in  April  or  May. 
The  meeting  lasted  half  an  hour,  and  then,  with  the 
same  pomp  and  ceremony,  the  Americans  returned 
to  their  ships. 

For  eight  days  the  fleet  remained  in  the  bay. 
One  party  of  sailors  landed,  but  made  no  trouble, 
and  was  actually  so  polite  that  the  people  offered 
them  refreshments  of  tea  and  fruit.  At  close  range 
the  barbarians  were  not  so  terrifying  as  the  natives 
had  thought  them  at  first,  and  when  they  embarked 
for  their  fleet  the  people  urged  them  to  come  back 
again.  On  July  iyth  the  war-ships  steamed  away, 
leaving  the  cliffs  covered  with  people,  who  gazed  in 
astonishment  at  vessels  that  had  no  canvas  spread, 
but  were  driven  entirely  by  fire. 

Perry's  object  in  visiting  Japan  was  to  obtain  a 
treaty  that  would  allow  trade  relations  between  the 


212  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

United  States  and  this  hermit  nation0  He  wanted  to 
give  the  Japanese  people  time  to  consider  President 
Fillmore's  letter,  and  so  he  planned  to  keep  his 
squadron  in  Eastern  waters  until  the  following 
spring,  when  he  would  return  to  learn  the  result  of 
his  mission  at  Yedo.  There  was  much  of  interest  to 
him  in  China,  and  he  spent  the  autumn  and  part  of 
the  winter  making  charts  of  that  coast,  and  visiting 
ports  where  American  merchants  were  already 
established. 

Meantime  the  letter  of  the  American  President  had 
caused  great  excitement  in  Japan.  Almost  as  soon 
as  Perry  left  a  messenger  was  sent  to  the  Shinto 
priests  at  the  shrines  of  Ise  to  offer  prayers  for  the 
peace  of  the  empire,  and  to  urge  that  the  barbarians 
be  swept  away.  A  week  later  the  Shogun  lyeyoshi 
died,  and  left  the  government  at  odds  as  to  what  to  do. 

Some  of  the  daimios  remembered  the  military 
ardor  of  their  ancestors,  and  wanted  to  fight  the 
barbarians,  rather  than  make  a  treaty  with  them. 
Others  thought  that  it  would  be  madness  to  oppose 
an  enemy  who  had  such  powerful  ships  that  they 
could  capture  all  the  Japanese  junks,  and  destroy 
the  coast  cities.  One  powerful  nobleman  declared 
that  it  would  be  well  for  Japan  to  meet  the  barbarians, 
and  learn  from  them  how  to  build  ships  and  lead 
armies,  so  that  they  would  be  able  in  time  to  defeat 
them  at  their  own  arts.  The  Mikado  had  little  to  do 
in  the  discussion.  The  actual  ruler  was  the  new 
Shogun  lyesada,  son  of  the  former  Shogun. 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  JAPAN      213 

While  Commodore  Perry  was  cruising  along  the 
coast  of  China  he  heard  that  French  and  Russian 
merchants  were  planning  to  visit  Japan.  He  was 
afraid  that  his  country  might  lose  the  benefits  of  his 
visit  unless  he  could  obtain  a  treaty  before  these 
other  countries  did.  Therefore,  although  a  mid 
winter  cruise  to  Japan  was  difficult  and  dangerous, 
he  determined  to  risk  this  and  return  at  once. 
Four  ships  set  sail  for  Yedo  Bay  February  i,  1854, 
and  a  week  later  the  commodore  followed  with 
three  others. 

In  the  city  of  Yedo  the  new  Shogun  was  very  busy 
preparing  either  for  peace  or  war.  A  long  line  of 
forts  was  hurriedly  built  on  the  edge  of  the  bay  in 
front  of  the  city.  Thousands  of  laborers  were  kept 
at  work  there,  a  great  number  of  cannon  were  cast, 
and  shops  worked  day  and  night  turning  out  guns 
and  ammunition.  An  old  law  had  directed  that  all 
vessels  of  a  certain  size  were  to  be  burned,  and  only 
small  coasting  junks  built.  This  law  was  repealed, 
and  all  the  rich  daimios  hurriedly  built  warships. 
These  ships  flew  a  flag  representing  a  red  sun  on  a 
white  background,  and  this  later  became  the  national 
flag  of  Japan.  A  native  who  had  learned  artillery 
from  the  Dutch  was  put  in  charge  of  the  soldiers; 
old  mediaeval  methods  of  fighting  were  abandoned, 
and  artillery  that  was  somewhat  like  that  of  Euro 
pean  countries  was  adopted. 

In  spite  of  all  this  bustle  and  preparation,  how 
ever,  the  Shogun  and  his  advisers  thought  it  would 


214  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

be  wisest  for  them  to  agree  to  a  treaty  with  the 
United  States.  Therefore  a  notice  was  issued  on 
December  2,  1853,  which  stated  that  "  owing  to  want 
of  military  efficiency,  the  Americans  would,  on  their 
return,  be  dealt  with  peaceably."  At  the  same  time 
the  old  practice  of  Fumi-ye,  which  consisted  in 
trampling  on  the  cross  and  other  emblems  of  Chris 
tianity,  and  which  had  been  long  practiced  in  the 
city  of  Nagasaki,  was  abolished. 

Some  men  in  the  country  were  insisting  that  the 
time  had  come  for  the  Japanese  to  visit  the  West, 
and  learn  the  new  arts  and  trades.  One  of  these 
was  a  scholar,  Sakuma,  who  urged  the  government 
to  send  Japanese  youths  to  Europe  to  learn  ship 
building  and  navigation.  The  Shogun  did  not  ap 
prove  of  this  idea ;  but  a  pupil  of  the  scholar,  named 
Yoshida  Shoin,  heard  of  it,  and  decided  to  go  abroad 
by  himself.  Sakuma  gave  him  money  for  his  ex 
penses,  and  advised  him  how  he  might  get  passage 
on  one  of  the  American  ships,  when  the  fleet  should 
return  to  Japan. 

As  soon  as  the  Shogun  learned  that  Commodore 
Perry  was  about  to  return  he  chose  Hayashi,  the 
chief  professor  of  Chinese  in  the  university,  to  serve 
as  interpreter.  The  Americans  had  used  Chinese 
scholars  in  their  communications  with  the  Japanese, 
and  Hayashi  was  a  man  of  great  learning  and  courtly 
manners.  The  Shogun  also  found  a  native  who 
understood  English,  although  the  Americans  did 
not  know  this.  This  man,  Nakahama  Manjiro,  with 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  JAPAN      215 

two  companions,  had  been  picked  up  at  sea  by  an 
American  captain,  and  taken  to  the  United  States, 
where  he  obtained  a  good  education.  He  and  his 
two  mates  then  decided  that  they  would  return  to 
their  native  land,  and  went  to  Hawaii,  where  they 
built  a  whale-boat,  and  then  sailed  for  the  coast  of 
China  on  board  an  American  merchantman.  In 
time  the  wanderers  reached  home,  and  when  the 
Shogun  heard  of  Manjiro's  travels  he  made  him  a 
samurai,  or  wearer  of  two  swords.  The  whale-boat 
that  he  had  built  was  used  as  a  model  for  others, 
and  the  traveler  taught  his  friends  some  of  the  knowl 
edge  of  the  Western  people. 

On  February  n,  1854,  the  watchmen  on  the  hills 
of  Idzu  saw  the  American  fleet  approaching.  Two 
days  later  the  great  war-ships  of  the  barbarians 
steamed  up  the  bay.  The  seven  vessels  dropped 
anchor  not  far  from  Yokosuka,  and  the  captain  of 
the  flag-ship  received  visits  from  the  governor  and 
his  interpreters.  Again  the  same  exaggerated  forms 
of  politeness  were  observed,  and  presents  of  many 
kinds,  fruits,  wines,  and  confectionery,  were  ex 
changed.  The  Japanese  suggested  that  Perry  should 
land  and  meet  them  at  Kamakura  or  Uraga,  but  the 
commodore  replied,  through  his  captain,  that  he 
should  stay  where  he  was  until  the  Japanese  had 
decided  what  they  would  do.  He  gave  them  until 
February  2ist  to  decide  about  the  treaty. 

Boats  were  sent  out  from  the  fleet  daily  to  make 
surveys  of  the  bay,  but  none  of  the  crews  were 


216  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

allowed  to  land.  At  length  the  Japanese  stated  that 
they  were  ready  to  treat  with  the  American  officers, 
and  Captain  Adams  was  sent  to  Uraga  to  inspect 
the  place  where  the  fleet  was  to  anchor,  and  the  new 
building  in  which  the  treaty  was  to  be  signed.  The 
captain,  with  his  aides,  entered  the  hall  of  reception, 
and  was  met  by  a  daimio  named  Izawa.  The  daimio 
was  fond  of  joking.  After  many  polite  greetings 
Captain  Adams  handed  the  nobleman  a  note  from 
Commodore  Perry.  Izawa  took  out  his  great  spec 
tacles,  but  before  he  put  them  on  he  folded  up  his 
large  fan  with  a  loud  snap.  The  Americans,  alarmed 
at  the  noise,  clapped  their  hands  to  their  revolvers. 
Izawa  could  not  help  laughing  at  their  confusion, 
but  quickly  adjusted  his  spectacles,  and  after  read 
ing  the  note,  said  that  he  was  much  gratified  at 
the  commodore's  greeting.  Rice  and  tea,  cake  and 
oranges  were  served  the  guests.  A  long  argument 
followed.  Captain  Adams  said  that  the  building 
was  large  enough  for  simple  talking,  but  not  for  the 
display  of  presents ;  and  that  Commodore  Perry 
would  much  rather  go  to  the  city  of  Yedo.  The 
Japanese  answered  that  they  much  preferred  that 
the  meeting  should  take  place  at  Uraga  or  Kana- 
gawa.  The  debate,  carried  on  through  Chinese  in 
terpreters,  was  a  lengthy  one. 

Two  days  later  the  commodore  moved  his  fleet 
ten  miles  farther  up  the  bay.  From  here  his  crews 
could  see  the  great  temple-roofs,  castles,  and  pagodas 
of  Yedo  itself,  and  could  hear  the  bells  in  the  city 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  JAPAN      217 

towers.  This  advance  of  the  fleet  convinced  the 
Shogun  that  Perry  meant  to  go  to  Yedo.  Some  of 
his  court  had  thought  that  it  would  be  a  national 
disgrace  if  the  barbarians  were  permitted  to  enter 
that  city,  but  the  government  now  decided  to  yield 
the  point,  and  suggested  a  place  directly  opposite, 
at  Yokohama,  for  the  place  of  treaty. 

No  such  scene  had  ever  been  witnessed  in  the 
hermit  land  of  Japan  as  the  one  that  took  place  there 
on  the  morning  of  March  8,  1854.  The  bay  of  Yedo 
was  covered  with  great  state  barges  and  junks  with 
many-colored  sails.  On  shore  were  hundreds  of 
soldiers,  the  servants  of  the  great  daimios,  dressed 
in  the  gorgeous  costumes  of  earlier  centuries.  Held 
back  by  ropes  were  thousands  of  country  people  who 
had  gathered  from  all  over  that  part  of  Japan  to  see 
the  strange  men  from  the  West.  Everywhere  was 
color.  Tents,  banners,  houses,  and  the  costumes  of 
men,  women  and  children  blazed  with  it.  The 
American  sailors  in  all  their  voyages  in  the  East 
had  never  seen  such  a  brilliant  picture. 

Perry  was  not  to  be  outdone.  His  men  left  the 
ships  to  the  noise  of  cannon  that  echoed  and  re 
echoed  along  the  shore.  Twenty-seven  boats  brought 
five  hundred  men,  and  as  soon  as  they  landed 
the  marines  formed  a  hollow  square,  while  three 
bands  played  martial  music.  The  great  commodore, 
now  looked  upon  by  the  Japanese  with  awe,  em 
barked  from  the  Powhatan  in  his  white  gig ;  more 
guns  were  fired  ;  more  flags  waved  ;  and  with  great 


2i 8  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

pomp,  Perry  landed  on  the  beach.  His  object  was 
to  impress  the  hermit  people  with  the  dignity  of  his 
nation. 

A  number  of  meetings  followed  before  the  treaty 
was  completed.  The  Americans  insisted  that  vessels 
in  need  of  wood,  coal,  water,  or  provisions  should  be 
allowed  to  get  them  from  shore,  and  that  the  Japa 
nese  should  care  for  shipwrecked  sailors.  They 
also  wanted  the  two  ports,  Shimoda  and  Hakodate, 
opened  to  them.  The  Japanese  were  willing,  pro 
vided  they  would  not  travel  inland  farther  than  they 
could  return  the  same  day,  and  that  no  American 
women  should  be  brought  into  the  country.  But 
when  the  Japanese  objected  to  the  arrival  of  women, 
Commodore  Perry  threw  back  his  cloak  and  ex 
claimed,  "  Great  heavens,  if  I  were  to  permit  any 
such  stipulation  as  that  in  the  treaty,  when  I  got 
home  the  women  would  pull  out  all  the  hairs  of  my 
head  ! "  The  Japanese  were  surprised  at  Perry's 
excitement,  thinking  that  they  must  have  offended 
him  greatly.  When  the  interpreters  explained  what 
he  had  actually  said,  however,  both  sides  laughed 
and  continued  peacefully.  They  grew  more  and 
more  friendly  as  the  meetings  progressed.  They 
dined  together  and  exchanged  gifts.  The  Ameri 
cans  liked  the  sugared  fruits,  candied  nuts,  crabs, 
prawns,  and  fish  that  the  Japanese  served  in 
different  forms,  while  the  hermit  people  developed 
a  great  fondness  for  the  puddings  and  cham 
pagne  the  Americans  offered  them.  When  it 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  JAPAN      219 

came  to  gifts,  the  eyes  of  the  Japanese  opened  wide 
at  the  many  surprising  things  the  barbarians  had  in 
vented.  They  were  delighted  with  the  rifles,  the 
clocks,  the  stoves,  the  sewing-machines,  the  model 
of  a  steam  locomotive,  and  the  agricultural  tools, 
scales,  maps,  and  charts  that  Perry  had  brought  to 
the  Mikado.  These  presents  were  to  open  the 
minds  of  the  Japanese  to  the  march  of  progress  in 
the  rest  of  the  world  ;  and  to  teach  them  the  uses  of 
steam  and  electricity,  the  printing-press,  newspapers, 
and  all  the  other  inventions  that  were  products  of 
Europe  and  America. 

In  exchange,  the  art-loving  people  of  Japan  gave 
their  visitors  beautiful  works  in  bronze,  lacquer, 
porcelain,  bamboo,  ivory,  silk,  and  paper,  and  great 
swords,  spears  and  shields,  wonderfully  inlaid  and 
decorated,  that  were  handed  down  from  their  feudal 
days. 

While  the  fleet  stayed  Japanese  spy-boats  kept 
watch  in  the  bay,  to  see  that  their  young  men  did 
not  board  the  foreign  ships  in  their  desire  to  see 
something  of  the  world.  Time  and  again  the  young 
Yoshida  Shoin  and  a  friend  tried  to  break  through  the 
blockade,  but  every  time  they  were  sent  back  to  shore. 
At  last  the  two  left  Yedo  for  the  port  of  Shimoda. 

The  Americans  set  up  telegraph  poles,  and  laid 
rails  to  show  the  working  of  the  model  locomotive. 
They  gave  an  exhibition  of  the  steam-engine.  This 
caused  great  excitement  in  the  country  near  Yedo, 
and  every  one  who  could  went  to  see  the  strange 


220  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

performance.  Already  there  was  a  struggle  between 
those  who  were  eager  to  learn  the  inventions  of  the 
Americans,  and  those  who  were  afraid  that  the  new 
ideas  would  spoil  old  Japan.  Many  an  ambitious 
youth  stared  at  the  Mikado's  presents,  and  tried  to 
learn  more  of  their  secrets  from  the  sailors  on  their 
way  to  or  from  the  fleet. 

The  treaty  was  signed  on  March  31,  1854,  and 
agreed  that  shipwrecked  sailors  should  be  cared  for, 
provisions  needed  by  ships  should  be  obtained  in  the 
ports,  and  American  vessels  allowed  to  anchor  in  the 
two  harbors  of  Shimoda  and  Hakodate.  Actual  trade 
was  not  yet  allowed,  nor  were  Americans  to  be  per 
mitted  to  reside  in  Japan.  The  hermit  nation  was 
not  at  all  eager  to  enter  into  competition  with  other 
countries,  nor  to  allow  foreigners  to  trade  with  her. 
Commodore  Perry  knew,  however,  that  even  the 
slight  terms  he  had  gained  would  prove  the  beginning 
of  the  opening  up  of  Japan  to  the  rest  of  the  world. 

April  1 8,  1854,  Perry  left  the  bay  of  Yedo  for 
Shimoda,  and  there  the  fleet  stayed  until  early  in 
May.  While  the  squadron  was  there  two  Americans, 
who  were  botanizing  on  land,  met  the  youth  Yoshida 
Shoin  and  his  friend.  The  young  Japanese  gave  the 
Americans  a  letter,  but  seeing  some  native  officers 
approaching,  he  and  his  friend  stole  away.  A  few 
nights  later  the  watch  on  the  war-ship  Mississippi 
heard  voices  calling,  "  Americans,  Americans ! " 
They  found  the  two  Japanese  youths  in  a  small  boat, 
and  took  them  on  board.  Paper  and  writing  ma- 


THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  JAPAN      321 

terials  were  found  hidden  in  their  clothes,  and  they 
explained  that  they  wanted  to  go  with  the  fleet  to 
America,  and  write  down  what  they  saw  there.  The 
commodore,  however,  felt  that  he  was  in  honor 
bound  to  send  the  two  young  men  back  to  their 
homes  ;  and  did  so.  Yoshida  later  came  to  be  one 
of  the  leaders  of  the  new  Japan  that  ended  the  long 
line  of  Shogun  rulers,  and  made  the  Mikado  the 
actual  emperor. 

The  fleet  cruised  from  one  port  to  another,  now 
well  received  by  the  people,  who  had  forgotten  their 
fear  of  the  barbarians'  fire-vessels.  The  governors  of 
the  different  provinces  gave  presents  to  Perry,  among 
them  blocks  of  native  stone  to  be  used  in  building 
the  great  obelisk  that  was  rising  on  the  banks  of  the 
Potomac  River  in  memory  of  Washington.  On  July 
ryth  the  last  of  the  squadron  left  Napa  for  Hong 
Kong. 

The  Americans  had  shown  the  Japanese  that  they 
were  a  friendly  people,  with  no  desire  to  harm  them. 
A  race  that  had  lived  shut  off  from  the  rest  of  the 
world  for  so  many  centuries  was  naturally  timid  and 
fearful  of  strange  people.  From  time  to  time  Euro 
pean  ships  had  landed  in  Japan,  and  almost  every 
time  the  sailors  had  done  injury  to  the  natives. 
Perry,  however,  convinced  them  that  the  United 
States  was  a  friend,  and  the  treaty,  slight  though  its 
terms  were,  marked  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  in  Japan. 
Like  the  sleeping  princess,  she  woke  at  the  touch  of 
a  stranger  from  overseas. 


X 

THE  PIG  THAT  ALMOST  CAUSED 
A  WAR 

OFF  the  far  northwestern  corner  of  the  United 
States  lie  a  number  of  small  islands  scattered  along 
the  strait  that  separates  the  state  of  Washington 
from  Vancouver  Island.  One  of  these  goes  by  the 
name  of  San  Juan  Island,  a  green  bit  of  land  some 
fifteen  miles  long  and  seven  wide.  The  northern 
end  rises  into  hills,  while  the  southern  part  is  covered 
with  rich  pastures.  In  the  hills  are  coal  and  lime 
stone,  and  along  the  shore  is  splendid  cod,  halibut, 
and  salmon  fishing.  In  the  year  1859  a  farmer 
named  Hubbs  pastured  his  sheep  at  the  southern 
end  of  San  Juan,  and  had  for  a  neighbor  to  the 
north  a  man  in  the  employ  of  the  English  Hudson's 
Bay  Company,  whose  business  it  was  to  raise  pigs. 
The  pigs  throve  on  San  Juan,  and  following  their 
fondness  for  adventure  left  Mr.  Griffiths'  farm  and 
overran  the  whole  island.  Day  after  day  Hubbs 
would  find  the  pigs  grubbing  in  his  pasture,  and 
finally  in  a  moment  of  anger  he  warned  his  neigh 
bor  that  he  would  kill  the  next  pig  that  came  on  his 
land.  Griffiths  heard  the  warning,  but  evidently  the 
pigs  did  not,  for  the  very  next  day  one  of  them 


THE  PIG  THAT  ALMOST  CAUSED  A  WAR  223 

crossed  the  boundary  line  and  ventured  into  Mr. 
Hubbs'  field.  Here  it  began  to  enjoy  itself  in  a 
small  vegetable  patch  that  Mr.  Hubbs  had  planted. 
As  soon  as  he  saw  the  trespasser  Hubbs  went  for  his 
gun,  and  returning  with  it,  shot  the  intruding  pig. 

When  Griffiths  found  his  dead  pig  he  was  as  angry 
as  Hubbs  had  been,  and  he  immediately  set  out  in 
his  sailboat  and  crossed  the  strait  to  Victoria,  a  lit 
tle  city  on  Vancouver  Island,  where  officers  of  the 
British  Government  had  their  headquarters.  He 
stated  his  case,  and  obtained  a  warrant  of  arrest  for 
his  neighbor  Hubbs.  Then  he  sailed  back  to  San 
Juan  with  the  constable,  and  going  to  his  neighbor's 
house  read  the  warrant  to  him.  Hubbs  indignantly 
replied  that  he  was  an  American  citizen,  and  did  not 
have  to  obey  the  order  of  the  English  officer.  There 
upon  the  constable  left  the  house,  vowing  that  he 
would  return  with  a  force  of  men  and  compel  the 
farmer  to  obey  him. 

Mr.  Hubbs  was  a  shrewd  man,  and  believed  that 
the  constable  would  be  as  good  as  his  word.  As 
soon  as  he  had  left  Hubbs  therefore  sent  a  note  to 
Port  Townsend,  which  was  in  Washington  Territory, 
asking  the  United  States  officers  there  to  protect  him 
from  arrest  for  killing  his  neighbor's  pig.  When  he 
received  the  note  General  William  S.  Harney,  who 
was  in  command,  ordered  Lieutenant-Colonel  Casey 
to  take  a  company  of  soldiers  and  camp  on  San  Juan 
Island  to  protect  Mr.  Hubbs. 

Now  that  thoughtless  pig  had  actually  lighted  a 


224  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

fuse  that  threatened  to  lead  to  a  very  serious  explo 
sion.  As  it  happened  San  Juan  lay  near  the  middle 
of  the  Strait  of  Juan  de  Fuca  and  commanded  both 
shores.  The  people  at  Victoria  could  see  the  Amer 
ican  soldiers  setting  out  in  their  boats  from  Port 
Townsend,  and  landing  on  the  green  island.  So 
long  as  it  had  been  the  home  of  a  few  farmers  San 
Juan  had  caused  little  concern,  but  now  that  troops 
were  camping  upon  it  it  presented  quite  a  different 
look.  Victoria  was  all  excitement.  The  governor, 
Sir  James  Douglas,  heard  the  news  first,  and  then 
Admiral  Prevost,  who  was  in  command  of  some 
English  war-ships  anchored  in  the  little  bay  near  the 
city.  The  admiral  was  very  angry  and  threatened 
to  blow  the  Yankees  of!  the  island.  He  gave  orders 
to  move  his  fleet  to  one  of  the  harbors  of  San  Juan, 
and  his  cannon  were  ready  to  fire  shot  over  the 
peaceful  fields,  where  sheep  and  pigs  had  divided 
possession.  Sir  James  Douglas,  the  governor,  how 
ever,  was  a  more  peaceful  man.  He  persuaded  the 
admiral  not  to  be  in  a  hurry,  but  suggested  that  it 
would  be  wise  to  have  a  company  of  British  regulars 
camp  somewhere  on  San  Juan.  This  would  serve  as 
a  warning  to  the  United  States  troops.  Accordingly 
Captain  Delacombe  was  sent  over,  and  pitched  his 
tents  on  the  northern  end  of  the  island  that  belonged 
to  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company. 

As  a  result  of  the  pig  having  trespassed  in  Mr. 
Hubbs'  vegetable  patch,  the  flag  of  the  United 
States  flew  above  the  tents  on  the  southern  part  of 


THE  PIG  THAT  ALMOST  CAUSED  A  WAR  225 

San  Juan,  and  the  British  flag  over  the  tents  on  the 
northern  end.  Mr.  Hubbs  was  left  in  peace,  and  Mr. 
Griffiths  went  on  raising  pigs  ;  but  the  people  in 
Victoria  shook  their  fists  across  the  strait  at  the  peo 
ple  in  Port  Townsend,  and  in  each  of  those  cities 
there  was  a  great  deal  of  talk  about  war.  The  talk- 
was  mostly  done  by  men  who  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  army.  The  soldiers  on  the  little  island  soon  be 
came  the  best  of  friends,  and  spent  their  time  in  field 
sports  and  giving  dinner-parties  to  each  other. 

No  part  of  the  boundary  line  of  the  United  States 
has  given  more  trouble  than  that  in  the  northwest. 
The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  had  once  claimed  prac 
tically  all  of  what  was  known  as  Oregon  Territory 
for  England,  but  after  Marcus  Whitman  brought  his 
pioneers  westward  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
gradually  withdrew,  and  left  the  southern  part  of  that 
land  to  the  United  States.  For  forty  years  the  two 
countries  had  disputed  about  the  line  of  division,  and 
the  political  party  that  was  led  by  Stephen  A.  Doug 
las  had  taken  as  its  watchword,  "  Fifty-four,  forty, — 
or  fight !  "  which  meant  that  unless  the  United  States 
should  get  all  the  land  up  to  the  southern  line  of 
Alaska,  they  would  go  to  war  with  England.  For 
tunately  President  Polk  was  not  so  grasping,  and 
the  boundary  was  finally  settled  in  1846  on  latitude 
forty-nine  degrees.  That  was  a  clear  enough  bound 
ary  for  most  of  the  northwest  country,  but  when  one 
came  close  to  the  Pacific  the  coast  grew  ragged,  and 
was  dotted  with  little  islands.  Vancouver  was  by 


226  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

the  treaty  to  belong  to  England,  and  the  agreement 
said  that  the  boundary  at  this  corner  should  be  "  the 
middle  of  the  channel."  Now  it  happened  that  San 
Juan  and  its  small  neighbors  lay  midway  between 
the  two  shores,  and  the  treaty  failed  to  say  which 
channel  was  meant,  the  one  on  the  American  or  the 
one  on  the  British  side  of  San  Juan. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  this  question  of  the  channel 
was  very  important  for  the  British.  It  would  -lead 
them  to  the  coast  of  Canada,  or  the  United  States  to 
Alaska.  The  one  to  the  west,  called  the  Canal  de 
Haro,  was  much  straighter  than  the  other,  and  deep 
enough  for  the  largest  war-ships.  Naturally  the 
United  States  wanted  the  boundary  to  run  through 
this  channel,  and  the  British  equally  naturally 
wanted  the  boundary  to  run  through  the  opposite 
channel,  called  Rosario  Strait,  because  midway  be 
tween  lay  the  little  island,  which  would  make  a 
splendid  fortress,  and  might  prevent  the  passage  of 
ships  in  case  of  war  between  the  two  nations.  So 
long  as  the  islands  were  simply  pasture  lands  the 
question  of  ownership  was  only  a  matter  for  debate, 
but  when  the  pig  was  killed,  and  the  troops  of  both 
countries  camped  on  San  Juan  the  question  became 
a  much  more  vital  one. 

News  of  what  had  happened  on  San  Juan  was 
sent  to  Washington  and  to  London ;  and  General 
Winfield  Scott  hurried  by  way  of  Panama  to  Mr. 
Hubbs'  farm.  He  found  that  all  the  United  States 
troops  on  that  part  of  the  coast  that'  could  be 


THE  PIG  THAT  ALMOST  CAUSED  A  WAR   227 

spared  had  been  crowded  on  to  the  southern  part  of 
the  island.  This  seemed  unnecessary,  and  General 
Scott  agreed  with  Sir  James  Douglas  that  only  one 
company  of  United  States  and  one  of  British  soldiers 
should  stay  in  camp  there.  The  little  island  thus 
became  the  scene  of  what  was  known  as  "  a  joint 
military  occupation."  In  the  meantime  there  were 
many  lengthy  meetings  at  Washington  and  London, 
and  the  two  countries  decided  that  they  would  leave 
the  difficult  question  of  the  boundary  line  to  arbitra 
tion.  So  the  statesmen  at  Washington  drew  up 
papers  to  prove  that  the  right  line  lay  in  the  middle 
of  the  Canal  de  Haro,  and  statesmen  at  London 
drew  up  other  papers  to  show  that  the  correct  line 
was  through  the  middle  of  Rosario  Strait,  which 
would  give  them  San  Juan  and  allow  their  ships  to 
sail  in  perfect  safety  between  the  islands  and  the 
Vancouver  shore.  The  statesmen  and  lawyers  took 
their  time  about  this,  while  the  soldiers  amused  them 
selves  fishing  for  cod  and  salmon,  and  the  farmers 
cared  for  their  sheep  and  pigs  as  peacefully  as  in  the 
days  before  Hubbs  had  shot  Griffiths'  pig. 

After  some  time  the  two  nations  decided  to  ask 
the  Emperor  of  Germany  to  decide  the  question  of 
the  boundary  line.  The  Emperor  appointed  three 
learned  men  to  determine  the  question  for  him. 
They  listened  to  the  arguments  of  both  sides,  and 
after  much  study  made  their  report  to  the  Emperor, 
who  gave  his  decision  on  October  23,  1872,  and 
handed  a  copy  of  it  to  Mr.  Bancroft  for  the  United 


228  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

States,  and  to  Lord  Odo  Russell  for  England.  His 
decision  was  that  the  claim  of  the  United  States  was 
correct,  and  that  the  middle  of  the  Canal  de  Haro 
should  be  the  boundary  of  that  northwestern  corner. 
This  gave  San  Juan  to  the  United  States,  much  to 
the  disappointment  of  the  people  of  Vancouver 
Island,  who  knew  that  a  fort  on  that  little  strip  of 
land  could  control  all  navigation  through  the  Strait 
of  Juan  de  Fuca.  One  month  after  the  decision  was 
given  the  British  troops  cut  down  their  flagstaff  on 
the  northern  end  and  left  San  Juan. 

San  Juan  lies  opposite  the  city  of  Victoria,  which 
has  grown  to  be  one  of  the  largest  ports  of  British 
Columbia.  Instead  of  lessening  in  importance  the 
island  has  grown  in  value,  because  that  part  of  the 
country  has  filled  up  rapidly,  and  both  sides  of  the 
line  are  more  and  more  prosperous.  The  question 
of  who  should  own  San  Juan  would  have  been  de 
cided  some  day,  but  it  was  that  prowling  pig  that 
brought  matters  to  a  head,  and  for  a  few  weeks  at 
least  threatened  to  draw  two  countries  into  war.  On 
such  slight  happenings  (although  in  this  case  it  was 
a  very  serious  matter  for  the  pig)  often  hang  the  fates 
of  nations  if  we  trace  history  back  to  the  spark  that 
fired  the  fuse. 


XI 
JOHN  BROWN  AT  HARPER'S  FERRY 

IN  the  days  when  Kansas  was  the  battle-ground 
between  those  men  who  upheld  negro  slavery,  and 
those  who  attacked  it,  a  man  named  John  Brown 
went  from  the  east  to  that  territory.  Several  of  his 
sons  had  already  gone  into  Kansas,  and  had  sent 
him  glowing  accounts  of  it.  Many  New  England 
families  were  moving  west  by  1855,  and  building 
homes  for  themselves  on  the  splendid  rolling  prairies 
across  the  Mississippi.  John  Brown,  however,  went 
with  another  purpose.  The  years  had  built  up  in 
him  such  a  hatred  for  negro  slavery  that  it  filled  his 
whole  thoughts.  Kansas  was  the  field  where  slave 
owners  and  abolitionists,  or  those  who  opposed 
slavery,  were  to  fight  for  the  balance  of  power. 
Therefore  he  went  to  Kansas  and  made  his  home  in 
the  lowlands  along  the  eastern  border,  near  a  region 
that  the  Indians  had  named  the  Swamp  of  the  Swan. 

There  were  a  great  many  men  in  Kansas  at  that 
time  who  had  no  real  convictions  in  regard  to  slavery, 
and  to  whom  the  question  was  one  of  politics,  and 
not  of  religion,  as  it  was  to  John  Brown.  Those  were 
days  of  warfare  on  the  border,  and  men  from  the 
south  and  the  north  were  constantly  clashing,  fight- 


230  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

ing  for  the  upper  hand  in  the  government,  and  taking 
every  possible  advantage  of  each  other.  Five  of 
John  Brown's  sons  had  already  settled  in  Kansas 
when  he  came  there  with  a  sick  son  and  a  son-in-law. 
Early  in  October,  1855,  they  reached  the  home  of  the 
pioneers.  They  found  the  houses  very  primitive, 
small  log  shanties,  the  walls  plastered  with  mud. 
The  father  joined  his  boys  in  getting  in  their  hay, 
and  set  traps  in  the  woods  to  secure  game  for  food. 
But  trouble  was  brewing  in  the  town  of  Lawrence, 
which  was  the  leading  city  of  Kansas.  Word  come 
to  the  Swamp  of  the  Swan  that  men  who  favored 
slavery  were  marching  on  the  town,  intending  to 
drive  out  the  free-state  Northerners  there.  This  was 
a  direct  call  to  John  Brown  to  take  the  field.  His 
family  set  to  work  preparing  corn  bread  and  meat, 
blankets  and  cooking  utensils,  running  bullets,  and 
loading  guns.  Then  five  of  the  men  set  out  for 
Lawrence,  which  was  reached  at  the  end  of  a  twenty- 
four  hours'  march. 

The  town  of  Lawrence,  a  collection  of  many 
rude  log  houses,  was  filled  with  crowds  of  excited 
men  and  women.  John  Brown,  looking  like  a 
patriarch  with  his  long  hair  and  beard,  arrived  at 
sundown,  accompanied  by  his  stalwart  sons  armed 
with  guns  and  pistols.  He  was  at  once  put  in 
charge  of  a  company,  and  set  to  work  fortifying 
the  town  with  earthworks,  and  preparing  for  a 
battle.  In  a  day  or  two,  however,  an  agreement 
was  reached  between  the  free-state  and  the  slave-state 


JOHN  BROWN  AT  HARPER'S  FERRY    231 

parties,  and  immediate  danger  of  warfare  disap 
peared.  Satisfied  with  this  outcome,  Brown  and 
his  sons  took  to  the  road  again,  and  marched  back 
to  their  home.  There  they  stayed  during  the  next 
winter.  In  the  cold  of  the  long  ice-bound  months, 
the  passions  of  men  lay  dormant.  But  with  the 
coming  of  spring  the  old  feud  smouldered  afresh. 

Bands  of  armed  men  from  the  South  arrived  in 
Kansas,  and  one  from  Georgia  came  to  camp  near 
the  Brown  settlement  on  the  Swamp  of  the  Swan. 
On  a  May  morning  John  Brown  and  four  of  his 
sons  walked  over  to  the  new  camp  to  learn  the 
Georgians'  plans.  He  had  some  surveying  instru 
ments  with  him,  and  the  newcomers  took  him 
for  a  government  surveyor  and  therefore  a  slave 
man,  for  almost  every  official  that  was  sent  into 
Kansas  held  the  Southern  views.  Pretending  to  be 
a  surveyor,  the  father  directed  his  sons  to  busy 
themselves  in  making  a  section  line  through  the 
camp.  The  men  from  Georgia  looked  on,  talking 
freely.  Presently  one  of  them  said :  "  We've  come 
here  to  stay.  We  won't  make  no  war  on  them 
as  minds  their  own  business ;  but  all  the  Abo 
litionists,  such  as  them  Browns  over  there,  we're 
going  to  whip,  drive  out,  or  kill, — any  way  to 
get  shut  of  them ! "  The  strangers  went  on  to 
name  other  settlers  they  meant  to  drive  out,  not 
suspecting  who  their  listeners  were,  and  John  Brown 
wrote  every  word  down  in  his  surveyor's  book. 
A  few  days  later  the  Georgians  moved  their  camp 


232  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

nearer  to  the  Brown  settlement,  and  began  to  steal 
horses  and  cattle  belonging  to  the  free-state  men. 
Brown  took  his  list,  and  went  to  see  the  men  whose 
names  were  on  it.  They  held  a  meeting,  and 
decided  that  it  was  time  to  teach  the  "border  ruf 
fians,"  as  such  men  as  the  Georgians  were  called,  a 
lesson.  News  of  the  meeting  spread  rapidly,  and 
soon  it  was  generally  known  that  the  free-state  men 
about  Osawatomie,  which  was  the  name  of  the 
town  near  which  the  Browns  lived,  were  prepared  to 
take  the  war-path. 

The  old  bitter  feelings  flamed  up  again  in  May  of 
1856.  On  the  twenty-first  of  the  month,  a  band  of 
slavery  men  swept  down  on  the  town  of  Lawrence, 
and  while  the  free-state  citizens  looked  on,  sacked 
and  burned  the  place.  John  Brown  and  his  sons 
hurried  there,  but  when  they  reached  Lawrence  the 
houses  were  in  ashes.  He  denounced  the  free- 
state  men  as  cowards,  for  to  his  ardent  nature  it 
seemed  an  outrage  that  men  should  let  themselves 
be  treated  so  by  ruffians.  When  a  discreet  citizen 
said  that  they  must  act  with  caution  John  Brown 
burst  out  at  him  :  "  Caution,  caution,  sir !  I  am 
eternally  tired  of  hearing  that  word  caution — it  is 
nothing  but  the  word  for  cowardice ! "  There  was 
nothing  for  him  to  do,  however,  and  he  was  about  to 
turn  toward  home  when  a  boy  came  dashing  up. 
He  reported  that  the  ruffians  in  the  Swamp  of 
the  Swan  had  warned  all  the  women  in  the  Brown 
settlement  that  they  must  leave  Kansas  by  Saturday 


JOHN  BROWN  AT  HARPER'S  FERRY     233 

or  Sunday,  or  they  would  be  driven  out.  The 
women  had  been  frightened,  and  taking  their  chil 
dren,  had  fled  in  an  ox-cart  to  the  house  of  a 
relative  at  a  distance.  The  boy  added  that  two 
houses  and  a  store  near  the  settlement  had  been 
burned. 

Those  were  dark  days  on  the  border,  days  that 
hardened  men's  natures.  Such  a  man  as  John 
Brown  felt  that  it  was  his  duty  to  stamp  out  the 
pest  of  slavery  at  any  cost.  He  turned  to  his 
sons  and  to  some  German  friends  whose  homes 
had  been  burned.  "  I  will  attend  to  those  fellows," 
said  he.  "  Something  must  be  done  to  show  these 
barbarians  that  we  too  have  rights  !"  A  neighbor 
offered  to  carry  the  little  band  of  men  in  his  wagon. 
They  looked  to  their  guns  and  cutlasses.  Peace- 
loving  people  in  Lawrence  grew  uneasy.  Judging 
from  Brown's  expression,  they  feared  that  he  was 
going  to  sow  further  trouble. 

Eight  men  drove  back  to  the  Browns'  settlement, 
and  found  that  the  messenger's  story  was  correct. 
They  called  a  meeting  of  those  who  were  to  be 
driven  out  of  Kansas,  according  to  the  ruffians' 
threats.  At  the  meeting  they  decided  to  rid  the 
country  of  the  outlaws,  who  had  only  come  west  to 
plunder,  and  some  of  whom  had  been  employed  in 
chasing  runaway  slaves  who  had  escaped  from 
their  masters.  Their  plans  made,  Brown's  band 
rode  to  a  little  saloon  on  the  Pottawatomie  Creek 
where  the  raiders  made  their  headquarters.  Within 


234  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

an  hour's  walk  were  the  men's  cabins.  Members 
of  Brown's  band  stopped  at  the  door  of  each 
cabin  that  night,  and  asked  for  the  men  they  wanted. 
If  the  inmates  hesitated  to  open  the  door  it  was 
broken  open.  Two  of  the  men  on  their  list  could 
not  be  found,  but  five  were  led  out  into  the  woods 
and  killed.  It  was  a  horrible  deed,  barbarous  even 
in  those  days  of  bloodshed.  But  Brown's  men  felt 
that  they  were  forced  to  do  it. 

John  Brown  thought  that  this  one  desperate  act 
might  set  Kansas  free ;  but  it  only  marked  the 
beginning  of  a  long  and  bloody  drama.  As  soon 
as  the  facts  were  known  he  and  his  sons  became 
outlaws  with  prices  on  their  heads.  Even  his  neigh 
bors  at  Osawatomie  were  horrified  at  his  act.  Two 
of  his  sons  who  had  not  been  with  him  were  ar 
rested,  and  the  little  settlement  became  a  center 
of  suspicion.  The  father  withdrew  to  the  woods, 
and  there  about  thirty-five  men  gathered  about 
him.  They  lived  the  life  of  outlaws,  and  neither 
slave-state  nor  free-state  officers  dared  to  try  to 
capture  them.  By  chance  a  reporter  of  the  New 
York  Tribune  came  on  their  camp.  He  wrote : 
"  I  shall  not  soon  forget  the  scene  that  here  opened 
to  my  view.  Near  the  edge  of  the  creek  a  dozen 
horses  were  tied,  all  ready  saddled  for  a  ride  for 
life,  or  a  hunt  after  Southern  invaders.  A  dozen 
rifles  and  sabres  were  stacked  against  the  trees. 
In  an  open  space,  amid  the  shady  and  lofty  woods, 
there  was  a  great  blazing  fire  with  a  pot  on  it ; 


JOHN  BROWN  AT  HARPER'S  FERRY     235 

a  woman,  bareheaded,  with  an  honest  sunburnt  face, 
was  picking  blackberries  from  the  bushes ;  three 
or  four  armed  men  were  lying  on  red  and  blue 
blankets  on  the  grass ;  and  two  fine-looking  youths 
were  standing,  leaning  on  their  arms,  on  guard 
near  by.  .  .  .  Old  Brown  himself  stood  near 
the  fire,  with  his  shirt  sleeves  rolled  up,  and  a  large 
piece  of  pork  in  his  hand.  He  was  cooking  a  pig. 
He  was  poorly  clad,  and  his  toes  protruded  from  his 
boots.  The  old  man  received  me  with  great  cor 
diality,  and  the  little  band  gathered  about  me." 

This  band,  living  in  forest  and  swamp,  was  always 
ready  to  strike  a  blow  for  the  free-state  cause.  The 
slavery  men  were  getting  the  upper  hand,  and 
Northern  families  who  had  settled  in  Kansas  began 
to  look  to  John  Brown  for  protection.  The  "border 
ruffians  "  grew  worse  and  worse,  attacking  small  de 
fenseless  settlements,  burning  homes  and  carrying 
off  cattle.  Sometimes  it  was  only  the  fear  of  retal 
iation  from  Brown's  company  that  kept  the  raiders 
from  still  greater  crimes.  Occasionally  they  met ; 
once  they  fought  a  battle  at  Black  Jack,  and  twenty- 
four  of  the  enemy  finally  surrendered  to  nine  of 
Brown's  men.  One  of  the  leaderVsons  was  badly 
wounded,  and  the  father  had  to  nurse  him  in  the 
woods. 

Affairs  grew  worse  during  the  summer.  The 
vilest  scum  of  the  slave  states  poured  into  Kansas, 
and  the  scenes  on  the  border  grew  more  and  more 
disgraceful.  There  were  pitched  battles,  and  at  last 


236  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

the  governor  of  the  territory,  thoroughly  scared,  sur 
rendered  his  power  into  the  hands  of  the  slave 
holders,  and  fled  for  his  life.  The  slave-state  men 
thought  that  the  time  had  come  to  strike  a  blow  that 
should  settle  the  question  in  Kansas  permanently. 
They  prepared  to  gather  an  army  in  Missouri,  in 
tending  to  cross  into  Kansas,  and  so  terrify  settlers 
from  the  North  that  they  would  make  no  further  re 
sistance.  Conditions  looked  desperate  to  John 
Brown,  and  he  left  the  territory  for  a  short  time  to 
see  what  he  could  do  to  get  help  for  his  cause. 

A  large  band  of  emigrants  from  the  North  were  on 
the  march  toward  Kansas,  and  Brown  rode  to  meet 
them.  The  emigrants  had  heard  of  him,  and  wel 
comed  him  to  their  midst.  He  encouraged  them 
and  urged  them  to  fight  for  freedom,  and  went  on 
his  way  hoping  to  rouse  more  free-state  men  to  enter 
Kansas. 

The  East  was  now  thoroughly  awake  to  the  law 
less  situation  on  the  border,  and  a  new  governor, 
Geary  by  name,  was  sent  out  from  Washington. 
Meetings  were  held  in  the  large  cities,  and  money, 
arms,  and  men  began  to  pour  into  Kansas.  Several 
hundred  men  from  Missouri  attacked  Osawatomie, 
which  was  defended  by  Abolitionists,  and  a  battle 
followed.  John  Brown  was  there,  and  when  his 
party  won  the  day  he  gained  the  nickname  of 
"  Osawatomie  Brown,"  by  which  he  was  generally 
called  thereafter. 

Fired  by  this  success,  the  leaders  of  the  free-state 


JOHN  BROWN  AT  HARPER'S  FERRY     237 

army  planned  to  capture  Lawrence.  The  new  gov 
ernor  feared  that  such  an  act  would  mean  the  begin 
ning  of  a  general  civil  war,  and  did  his  best  to  pre 
vent  it  He  succeeded  in  this.  The  free-state  men 
were  divided  into  two  parties,  those  whose  aim  was 
to  have  Kansas  admitted  to  the  Union  as  a  free  state, 
and  those  who,  like  John  Brown,  were  bent  on  abol 
ishing  slavery  throughout  the  United  States.  Gov 
ernor  Geary  assured  the  former  men  that  Kansas 
would  be  free  soil,  and  he  tried  to  induce  Brown  to 
leave  that  part  of  the  country  for  a  time  in  the  inter 
est  of  peace.  Brown  was  willing  to  do  as  Governor 
Geary  wished,  thinking  that  Kansas  was  safe  for  the 
present.  He  wanted  to  turn  his  attention  to  other 
parts  of  the  country,  where  he  thought  he  was  more 
needed.  In  September,  1856,  he  started  east  with 
his  sons.  He  was  now  a  well-known  figure,  hated 
by  all  slave-owners,  a  hero  to  Abolitionists,  and  dis 
trusted  by  that  large  number  of  men  whose  object 
was  to  secure  peace  at  any  cost. 

There  were  many  people  in  the  North  at  that  time 
who  were  helping  runaway  slaves  to  escape  from 
their  masters,  and  in  certain  parts  of  the  country 
there  were  stations  of  what  was  called  the  "  Under 
ground  Railroad."  Negroes  fleeing  from  the 
tyranny  of  Southern  owners  were  helped  along  from 
one  station  to  another,  until  they  were  finally  safe 
across  the  Canadian  border.  The  law  of  the  country 
said  that  negro  slaves  were  like  any  other  form  of 
property,  and  that  it  was  the  duty  of  citizens  to  re- 


238  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

turn  runaways  to  their  masters.  There  were  also 
scattered  through  the  border  states  a  number  of  men 
whose  business  it  was  to  catch  fugitive  slaves  and 
take  them  back  south.  These  men  were  usually  of 
a  brutal  type,  and  the  poor  refugee  who  fell  into 
their  clutches  was  made  to  suffer  for  his  attempt  at 
escape.  Story  after  story  of  the  sufferings  of  slaves 
came  to  John  Brown's  ears,  and  he  felt  that  it  was 
his  duty  to  throw  himself  into  the  work  of  the  Un 
derground  Railroad,  and  help  as  many  slaves  as 
possible  to  cross  into  Canada. 

This  work  was  not  enough  for  him,  however ;  he 
wanted  to  strike  some  blow  at  the  slave-owners 
themselves.  The  Alleghany  Mountain  range  was 
one  of  the  main  roads  for  fugitives,  for  there  men 
could  hide  in  the  thick  forests  of  the  mountainside, 
and  could  make  some  show  of  defense  when  the 
slave-catchers  and  bloodhounds  came  in  pursuit. 
John  Brown  knew  this  country  well.  He  traveled 
through  the  North,  talking  with  other  men  who  felt 
as  he  did,  and  trying  to  work  out  a  plan  which 
should  force  the  country  to  decide  this  question  of 
negro  slavery.  At  last  he  decided  to  make  a  raid 
into  Southern  territory,  and  free  slaves  for  himself. 

In  the  heart  of  the  Alleghanies,  and  almost  mid 
way  between  Maine  and  Florida,  is  a  great  natural 
gateway  in  the  mountains.  Here  the  Potomac  and 
the  Shenandoah  Rivers  meet,  and  seem  to  force  their 
way  through  the  natural  barrier.  This  pass  is 
Harper's  Ferry,  and  in  1859  it  was  the  seat  of  a 


JOHN  BROWN  AT  HARPER'S  FERRY    239 

United  States  arsenal.  To  the  south  was  a  country 
filled  with  slaves,  who  looked  to  Harper's  Ferry  as 
the  highroad  to  freedom.  Not  far  from  the  arsenal 
rose  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains,  the  heights  of  which 
commanded  the  pass.  It  was  John  Brown's  plan  to 
lead  men  from  the  Maryland  side  of  the  Potomac 
River  to  attack  the  arsenal,  and  when  it  was  captured 
to  carry  arms  and  ammunition  across  the  Shenan- 
doah  to  Loudoun  Heights  in  the  Blue  Ridge,  and 
hide  there.  From  here  his  band  could  make  raids 
to  the  south,  freeing  slaves,  and  shielding  them 
from  their  masters,  while  using  the  mountains  for  a 
shelter. 

There  were  many  other  men  in  the  United  States 
bent  on  destroying  slavery,  but  few  so  impulsive  as 
John  Brown.  His  plan  was  rash  in  the  extreme,  and 
even  its  success  would  have  profited  only  a  few  slaves. 
But  Brown  was  a  born  crusader.  The  men  who  fol 
lowed  him  were  all  impulsive,  and  many  of  them 
were  already  trained  in  the  rude  ways  of  frontier  life. 
They  knew  what  he  had  done  in  Kansas,  and  were 
ready  to  fight  on  his  side  anywhere  else.  They  had 
a  real  reverence  for  John  Brown.  The  tall  man  with 
the  long,  almost  white  hair,  keen  eyes,  and  flowing 
beard  was  no  ordinary  leader.  He  had  the  power 
to  convince  men  that  his  cause  was  just,  and  to  hold 
them  in  his  service  afterward. 

In  June,  1859,  John  Brown,  with  two  of  his  sons, 
and  two  friends,  started  south.  He  rented  a  farm 
about  five  miles  from  Harper's  Ferry,  in  a  quiet,  out- 


24o  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

of-the-way  place.  There  were  several  cabins  in  the 
neighborhood,  and  as  his  followers  gradually  joined 
him,  they  occupied  these  shelters.  A  daughter  kept 
house  for  him  during  the  summer.  The  men  farmed 
in  the  daytime,  and  planned  their  conspiracy  at  night. 
The  leader  did  everything  he  could  to  win  the  friend 
ship  of  his  neighbors.  He  had  some  knowledge  of 
medicine,  and  attended  all  who  were  sick.  Fre 
quently  he  preached  in  the  little  Dunker  chapel 
near  by.  He  was  always  ready  to  share  his  food  or 
give  the  shelter  of  his  roof  to  any  travelers.  Slowly 
he  collected  guns  and  ammunition,  and  late  in 
September  sent  his  daughter  north,  and  arranged  to 
make  his  attack.  At  first  some  of  the  other  men 
objected  to  his  plans.  One  or  two  did  not  approve 
of  his  seizing  the  government  arsenal,  and  thought 
they  should  simply  make  a  raid  into  Virginia  as  the 
slave-state  men  had  formerly  carried  war  into 
Kansas.  Their  leader,  however,  was  determined, 
and  nothing  could  turn  him.  Already  he  feared  lest 
some  suspicion  of  his  purpose  might  have  spread, 
and  was  eager  to  make  his  start.  He  set  Sunday 
night,  October  i6th,  as  the  time  for  the  raid. 
That  morning  he  called  his  men  together  and  read 
to  them  from  the  Bible.  In  the  afternoon  he  gave 
them  final  instructions,  and  added :  "  And  now, 
gentlemen,  let  me  impress  this  one  thing  upon  your 
minds.  You  all  know  how  dear  life  is  to  you,  and 
how  dear  life  is  to  your  friends.  And  in  remember 
ing  that,  consider  that  the  lives  of  others  are  as 


JOHN  BROWN  AT  HARPER'S  FERRY     241 

dear  to  them  as  yours  are  to  you.  Do  not,  there 
fore,  take  the  life  of  any  one,  if  you  can  possibly 
avoid  it ;  but  if  it  is  necessary  to  take  life  in  order  to 
save  your  own,  then  make  sure  work  of  it." 

At  eight  o'clock  that  night  the  old  farm  was  alive 
with  action.  John  Brown  called  :  "  Men,  get  on 
your  arms ;  we  will  proceed  to  the  Ferry."  His 
horse  and  wagon  were  driven  up  before  the  door, 
and  some  pikes,  a  sledge-hammer,  and  a  crowbar 
were  put  in  it.  John  Brown  pulled  on  his  old 
Kansas  cap,  and  cried  :  "  Come,  boys  ! "  and  they 
went  into  the  lane  that  wound  down  the  hill  to  the 
highroad. 

Each  of  the  band  had  been  told  exactly  what  he 
was  to  do.  Two  of  the  men  were  to  cut  the 
telegraph  lines,  and  two  others  were  to  detain  the 
sentinels  at  the  bridge.  Men  were  detailed  to  hold 
each  of  the  bridges  over  the  two  rivers,  and  others 
to  occupy  the  engine  house  in  the  arsenal  yard. 

The  night  was  cold  and  dark.  John  Brown  drove 
his  one-horse  farm-wagon,  and  the  men  straggled 
behind  him.  They  had  to  cover  five  miles  through 
woods  and  over  hills  before  they  came  down  to  the 
narrow  road  between  the  cliffs  and  the  Cincinnati 
and  Ohio  canal.  Telegraph  wires  were  cut,  the 
watchman  on  the  bridge  was  arrested,  and  the  band 
found  their  way  open  into  Harper's  Ferry. 

Their  object  was  to  seize  the  arms  in  the  arsenal 
and  rifle  factory.  They  marched  to  the  armory 
gate,  where  they  found  a  watchman.  "  Open  the 


242  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

gate,"  one  of  Brown's  men  ordered.  The  watch 
man  said  that  he  could  not,  and  another  of  the  band 
declared  that  there  was  no  time  for  talk,  but  that  he 
would  get  a  crowbar  and  hammer  from  the  wagon. 
He  twisted  the  crowbar  in  the  chain  that  held  the  gate, 
and  broke  it  open  ;  then  leaving  the  watchman  in  the 
care  of  two  men,  the  rest  made  a  dash  for  the 
arsenal. 

A  great  deal  happened  in  a  short  time.  Guards 
were  overpowered,  the  bridge  secured,  and  the  river 
forded  close  to  the  rifle-works.  Not  a  gun  had  to 
be  fired,  and  both  soldiers  and  civilians  did  as  they 
were  bid  by  the  armed  men.  Others  of  the  raiders 
hurried  out  into  the  country,  and  meeting  some 
colored  men,  told  them  their  plans,  and  the  latter  at 
once  agreed  to  join  them.  Each  of  the  negroes 
was  sent  at  once  to  stir  up  the  slaves  in  the  neigh 
borhood,  and  bring  them  to  Harper's  Ferry.  The 
raiders  then  came  to  the  house  of  Colonel  Lewis 
Washington.  They  knocked  on  the  door,  and  were 
admitted.  Colonel  Washington  asked  what  they 
wanted.  The  leader  answered,  "  You  are  our 
prisoner,  and  must  come  to  the  Ferry  with  us." 
The  Virginian  replied,  "  You  can  have  my  slaves,  if 
you  will  let  me  remain."  He  was  told,  however, 
that  he  must  go  back  with  them  ;  and  so  he  did,  to 
gether  with  a  large  four-horse  wagon  and  some  arms, 
guns,  swords,  and  cartridges. 

Others  of  the  band  had  brought  in  more  Virginia 
prisoners.  An  east-bound  train  on  the  Baltimore  and 


JOHN  BROWN  AT  HARPER'S  FERRY    243 

Ohio  Railroad  that  reached  Harper's  Ferry  about 
one  o'clock  in  the  morning  was  detained,  and  the 
passengers  were  kept  there  until  sunrise.  John 
Brown  was  in  command  at  the  arsenal,  and  the  rest 
of  his  band  were  acting  at  different  points.  By 
morning  the  people  of  the  village  were  all  alarmed. 
They  did  not  know  what  the  raiders  meant  to  do, 
but  many  of  them  fled  to  the  mountains,  spreading 
the  news  as  they  went. 

In  spite  of  some  little  confusion  among  his  follow 
ers,  practically  all  of  John  Brown's  plans  had  been 
successful  up  to  this  point.  He  had  captured  the 
armory,  and  armed  about  fifty  slaves.  His  next  ob 
ject  was  to  get  the  store  of  guns  and  ammunition 
that  he  had  left  at  his  farm.  Here  came  the  first 
hitch  in  his  plans.  He  ordered  two  of  his  men, 
Cook  and  Tidd,  to  take  some  of  the  freed  slaves  in 
Colonel  Washington's  wagon,  and  drive  to  the  house 
of  a  man  named  Terrence  Burns,  and  take  him,  his 
brother  and  their  slaves  prisoners.  Cook  was  to 
stay  at  Burns's  house  while  Tidd  and  the  negroes 
were  to  go  to  John  Brown's  farm,  load  the  guns  in 
the  wagon,  and  bring  them  back  to  a  schoolhouse 
near  the  Ferry,  stopping  on  the  way  for  Cook  and 
his  prisoners.  This  the  two  men  did ;  but  they  were 
so  slow  in  getting  the  arms  from  the  farm  to  the 
schoolhouse,  a  distance  of  not  over  three  miles,  that 
much  valuable  time  was  lost.  Cook  halted  to  make 
a  speech  on  human  equality  at  one  of  the  houses 
they  passed,  and  Tidd  stopped  his  wagon  frequently 


244  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

and  talked  with  passers-by  on  the  road.  They  had 
the  first  load  of  arms  at  the  schoolhouse  by  ten 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  but  it  was  four  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  before  the  second  load  arrived.  All  the 
guns  and  arms  should  have  been  at  the  schoolhouse 
by  ten  o'clock,  if  the  men  had  followed  John  Brown's 
orders  strictly. 

John  Brown  probably  still  intended  to  carry  his 
arms,  together  with  the  prisoners  and  their  slaves, 
up  to^  Loudoun  Heights,  where  he  would  be  safe  for 
some  time,  but  his  men  were  so  slow  in  obeying  his 
orders  that  the  enemy  was  given  time  to  collect. 
The  train  that  had  left  Harper's  Ferry  that  morning 
carried  word  of  the  raid  throughout  the  countryside, 
and  men  gathered  in  the  neighboring  villages  ready 
to  march  on  Harper's  Ferry  and  put  an  end  to  the 
disturbance.  John  Brown  held  thousands  of  muskets 
and  rifles  in  the  arsenal,  while  the  men  who  were 
marching  to  attack  him  were  for  the  most  part  armed 
with  squirrel  guns  and  old-fashioned  fowling-pieces. 
The  militia  collected  rapidly,  and  marched  toward 
the  Ferry  from  all  directions.  By  noon  the  Jefferson 
Guards  had  seized  the  bridge  that  crossed  the  Poto 
mac.  Meantime  John  Brown  had  girded  to  his  side 
a  sword  that  had  belonged  to  Lafayette,  that  had 
been  taken  from  Colonel  Lewis  Washington's  house 
the  night  before,  called  his  men  from  the  arsenal  into 
the  street,  and  said,  "  The  troops  are  on  the  bridge, 
coming  into  town  ;  we  will  give  them  a  warm  recep 
tion/'  He  walked  back  and  forth  before  the  small 


JOHN  BROWN  AT  HARPER'S  FERRY     245 

band,  encouraging  them.  "  Men,  be  cool ! "  he 
urged.  "  Don't  waste  your  powder  and  shot  1  Take 
aim,  and  make  every  shot  count !  The  troops  will 
look  for  us  to  retreat  on  their  first  appearance  ;  be 
careful  to  shoot  first." 

The  militia  soon  advanced  across  the  bridge  and 
up  the  main  street.  When  they  were  some  sixty  or 
seventy  yards  away  from  the  raiders  John  Brown 
gave  the  order  to  fire.  Some  of  the  militia  fell. 
Other  volleys  followed  ;  and  the  attacking  party  was 
thrown  into  disorder.  Finally  they  were  driven  back 
to  the  bridge,  and  took  up  a  position  there  until  re 
inforcements  arrived.  As  they  retreated  John  Brown 
ordered  his  men  back  to  the  arsenal.  In  the  lull  of 
the  firing  nearly  all  the  unarmed  people  who  were 
still  in  the  town  fled  to  the  hills. 

It  was  now  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  the 
band  of  raiders  could  have  escaped  to  Loudoun 
Heights.  But  their  leader  wanted  to  carry  the  guns 
and  ammunition  away  with  him,  and  to  do  this  he 
needed  the  aid  of  the  rest  of  his  men.  He  sent  a 
messenger  to  one  of  his  followers  named  Kagi,  who 
was  stationed  with  several  others  on  the  bank  of  the 
Shenandoah,  with  orders  for  him  to  hold  the  place  a 
short  time  longer.  The  messenger,  however,  was 
fired  on  and  wounded  before  he  could  reach  Kagi, 
and  the  latter' s  party  was  soon  attacked  by  a  force 
of  militia,  and  driven  into  the  river.  A  large  flat 
rock  stood  up  in  the  river,  and  four  of  the  five  raid 
ers  reached  this.  There  three  of  them  fell  before  the 


246  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

fire  of  bullets,  and  the  fourth  was  taken  a  prisoner. 
In  similar  ways  the  number  of  John  Brown's  men 
was  much  reduced. 

The  leader  realized  the  danger  of  the  situation, 
and  decided  that  his  best  chance  of  escape  lay  in 
using  the  prisoners  he  had  captured  as  hostages  for 
his  band's  safe  retreat.  He  moved  his  men,  and  the 
more  important  of  the  prisoners,  to  a  small  brick 
building  called  the  engine-house.  There  he  said  to 
his  captives,  "  Gentlemen,  perhaps  you  wonder  why 
I  have  selected  you  from  the  others.  It  is  because  I 
believe  you  to  be  the  most  influential ;  and  I  have 
only  to  say  now  that  you  will  have  to  share  precisely 
the  same  fate  that  your  friends  extend  to  my  men." 
He  ordered  the  doors  and  windows  barricaded,  and 
port-holes  cut  in  the  walls. 

The  engine-house  now  became  the  raiders'  citadel, 
and  the  militia  and  bands  of  farmers  who  were  arriv 
ing  at  Harper's  Ferry  released  the  prisoners  who 
were  still  in  the  arsenal,  and  concentrated  all  their 
fire  on  the  band  in  the  small  brick  house. 

As  the  sun  set  the  town  filled  with  troops,  and  it 
was  evident  that  the  men  in  the  fort  would  have  to 
surrender.  They  kept  up  their  firing,  however,  from 
the  port-holes,  and  were  answered  with  a  rain  of 
bullets  aimed  at  the  doors  and  windows.  Both  sides 
lost  a  number  of  men.  Two  of  John  Brown's  sons 
had  been  shot  during  the  day.  Finally  the  leader 
asked  if  one  of  his  prisoners  would  volunteer  to  go 
out  among  the  citizens  and  induce  them  to  cease  fir- 


JOHN  BROWN  AT  HARPER'S  FERRY     247 

ing  on  the  fort,  as  they  were  endangering  the  lives 
of  their  friends,  the  other  captives.  He  promised 
that  if  they  would  stop  firing  his  men  would  do  the 
same.  One  of  the  prisoners  agreed  to  try  this,  and 
the  firing  ceased  for  a  time. 

More  troops  poured  into  Harper's  Ferry,  and  pres 
ently  Colonel  Robert  E.  Lee  arrived  with  a  force  of 
United  States  marines.  Guards  were  set  about  the 
engine-house  to  see  that  John  Brown  and  his  men 
did  not  escape.  Then  Colonel  Lee  sent  a  flag  of 
truce  to  the  engine-house,  and  in  the  name  of  the 
United  States  demanded  that  Brown  surrender,  ad 
vising  him  to  throw  himself  on  the  clemency  of  the 
government.  John  Brown  answered  that  he  knew 
what  that  meant,  and  added,  "  I  prefer  to  die  just 
here."  Again  in  the  morning  Lee  sent  his  aide  to 
the  fort.  The  officer  asked,  "  Are  you  ready  to  sur 
render,  and  trust  to  the  mercy  of  the  government  ?  " 
Brown  answered,  "  No,  I  prefer  to  die  here."  Then 
the  soldiers  attacked,  not  with  guns  this  time,  but 
with  sledge-hammers,  intending  to  break  down  the 
doors.  This  did  not  succeed,  and  seizing  a  long 
ladder  they  used  it  as  a  battering-ram,  and  finally 
broke  the  fastenings  of  the  main  door.  Lieutenant 
Green  pushed  his  way  in,  and,  jumping  on  top  of 
the  engine,  looked  about  for  John  Brown.  Amid  a 
storm  of  bullets,  he  saw  the  white-haired  leader,  and 
sprang  at  him,  at  the  same  time  striking  at  him  with 
his  sword.  John  Brown  fell  forward,  with  his  head 
between  his  knees.  In  a  few  minutes  all  of  the  raid- 


248  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

ers  who  were  left  in  the  engine-house  had  surren 
dered  to  the  government  troops. 

Of  the  band  that  had  left  the  farm  on  Sunday 
night  seven  were  taken  prisoners,  ten  had  been  killed 
in  the  fighting,  and  six  others  had  managed  to  make 
their  escape.  By  noon  of  Tuesday,  October  i8th, 
the  raid  was  over.  John  Brown,  wounded  in  half  a 
dozen  places,  lay  on  the  floor  of  the  engine-house ; 
and  the  governor  of  Virginia  bent  over  him.  "  Who 
are  you?"  asked  the  governor.  The  old  man  an 
swered,  "  My  name  is  John  Brown  ;  I  have  been  well 
known  as  old  John  Brown  of  Kansas.  Two  of  my 
sons  were  killed  here  to-day,  and  I'm  dying  too.  I 
came  here  to  liberate  slaves,  and  was  to  receive  no 
reward.  I  have  acted  from  a  sense  of  duty,  and  am 
content  to  await  my  fate  ;  but  I  think  the  crowd  have 
treated  me  badly.  I  am  an  old  man.  Yesterday  I 
could  have  killed  whom  I  chose ;  but  I  had  no  desire 
to  kill  any  person,  and  would  not  have  killed  a  man 
had  they  not  tried  to  kill  me  and  my  men.  I  could 
have  sacked  and  burned  the  town,  but  did  not ;  I 
have  treated  the  persons  whom  I  took  as  hostages 
kindly,  and  I  appeal  to  them  for  the  truth  of  what  I 
say.  If  I  had  succeeded  in  running  off  slaves  this 
time,  I  could  have  raised  twenty  times  as  many  men 
as  I  have  now  for  a  similar  expedition.  But  I  have 
failed." 

The  news  of  John  Brown's  raid  spread  through  the 
country,  and  the  people  North  and  South  were 
amazed  and  bewildered.  They  had  grown  used  to 


JOHN  BROWN  AT  HARPER'S  FERRY     249 

hearing  of  warfare  in  the  distant  borderland  of 
Kansas,  but  this  was  a  battle  that  had  taken  place  in 
the  very  heart  of  the  Union.  Men  did  not  know 
what  to  think  of  it.  John  Brown  appeared  to  many 
of  them  as  a  monstrous  figure,  a  firebrand  who 
would  touch  his  torch  to  the  tinder  of  slavery,  and 
set  the  whole  nation  in  a  blaze.  Newspapers  and 
public  speakers  denounced  him.  They  said  he  was 
attacking  the  foundations  of  the  country  when  he 
seized  the  arsenal  and  freed  slaves  from  their  lawful 
owners.  Only  a  handful  of  men  had  any  good  to 
say  for  him,  and  that  handful  were  looked  upon  as 
madmen  by  their  neighbors.  Only  a  few  could  read 
the  handwriting  on  the  wall,  and  realize  that  John 
Brown  was  merely  a  year  or  two  in  advance  of  the 
times. 

We  who  know  the  story  of  the  Civil  War  and  the 
abolition  of  slavery  think  of  John  Brown  as  a  hero. 
We  forget  the  outlaw  and  remember  the  martyr.  If 
he  was  setting  the  laws  of  men  at  defiance  he  was 
also  following  the  law  that  he  felt  was  given  him  by 
God.  His  faith  and  his  simplicity  have  made  him  a 
great  figure  in  history.  A  man  who  met  him  riding 
across  the  plains  of  Kansas  in  the  days  of  the  border 
warfare  drew  a  vivid  picture  of  him.  He  said  that 
a  tall  man  on  horseback  stopped  and  asked  him  a 
question.  "It  was  on  a  late  July  day,  and  in  its 
hottest  hours.  I  had  been  idly  watching  a  wagon 
and  one  horse  toiling  slowly  northward  across  the 
prairie,  along  the  emigrant  trail  that  had  been 


250  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

marked  out  by  free-state  men.  .  .  .  John  Brown, 
whose  name  the  young  and  ardent  had  begun  to 
conjure  with  and  swear  by,  had  been  described  to 
me.  So,  as  I  heard  the  question,  I  looked  up  and 
met  the  full,  strong  gaze  of  a  pair  of  luminous,  ques 
tioning  eyes.  Somehow  I  instinctively  knew  this  was 
John  Brown,  and  with  that  name  I  replied.  .  .  . 
It  was  a  long,  rugged-featured  face  I  saw.  A  tall, 
sinewy  figure,  too  (he  had  dismounted),  five  feet 
eleven,  I  estimated,  with  square  shoulders,  narrow 
flank,  sinewy  and  deep-chested.  A  frame  full  of 
nervous  power,  but  not  impressing  one  especially 
with  muscular  vigor.  The  impression  left  by  the 
pose  and  the  figure  was  that  of  reserve,  endurance, 
and  quiet  strength.  The  questioning  voice-tones 
were  mellow,  magnetic,  and  grave.  On  the  weather 
worn  face  was  a  stubby,  short,  gray  beard.  .  .  . 
This  figure, — unarmed,  poorly  clad,  with  coarse 
linen  trousers  tucked  into  high,  heavy  cowhide 
boots,  with  heavy  spurs  on  their  heels,  a  cotton 
shirt  opened  at  the  throat,  a  long  torn  linen  duster, 
and  a  bewrayed  chip  straw  hat  .  .  .  made  up  the 
outward  garb  and  appearance  of  John  Brown  when  I 
first  met  him.  In  ten  minutes  his  mounted  figure 
disappeared  over  the  north  horizon." 

But  John  Brown  had  seized  the  government's 
arsenal,  and  put  arms  in  the  hands  of  negro  slaves, 
and  therefore  the  law  must  take  its  course  with  him. 
Its  officers  came  to  him  where  he  lay  on  the  floor  of 
his  fort,  a  badly-wounded  man,  who  had  fought  for 


JOHN  BROWN  AT  HARPER'S  FERRY     251 

fifty-five  long  hours,  who  had  seen  two  sons  and  eight 
of  his  comrades  shot  in  the  battle,  and  who  felt  that 
his  cause  was  lost. 

When  men  who  owned  slaves  asked  the  reason  for 
his  raid,  he  answered,  "  You  are  guilty  of  a  great 
wrong  against  God  and  humanity  and  it  would  be  per 
fectly  right  for  any  one  to  interfere  with  you  so  far 
as  to  free  those  you  wilfully  and  wickedly  hold  in 
bondage.  .  .  ,  I  pity  the  poor  in  bondage  that 
have  none  to  help  them.  That  is  why  I  am  here ; 
not  to  gratify  any  personal  animosity,  revenge,  or 
vindictive  spirit." 

A  number  of  Virginians  had  been  killed  in  the 
fight,  and  it  was  difficult  to  secure  a  fair  trial  for  the 
raiders.  The  state  did  its  best  to  hold  the  scales  of 
justice  even.  The  formal  trial  began  on  October  27, 
1859.  Friends  from  the  North  came  to  his  aid,  and 
a  Massachusetts  lawyer  acted  as  his  counsel.  John 
Brown  heard  the  charges  against  him  lying  on  a 
straw  pallet,  and  four  days  later  he  heard  the  jury 
declare  him  guilty  of  treason.  December  2,  1859, 
the  sentence  of  the  court  was  carried  out,  and  John 
Brown  was  hanged  as  a  traitor.  His  last  written 
words  were,  "  I,  John  Brown,  am  quite  certain  that 
the  crimes  of  this  guilty  land  will  never  be  purged 
away  but  with  blood.  I  had,  as  I  now  think  vainly, 
flattered  myself  that  without  very  much  bloodshed  it 
might  be  done." 

Every  great  cause  in  history  has  its  martyrs,  and 
John  Brown  was  one  of  those  who  were  sacrificed  in  the 


252  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

battle  for  human  freedom.  Statesmen  had  tried  for 
years  to  argue  away  the  wrongs  that  began  when  the 
first  African  bondsmen  were  brought  to  the  American 
colonies.  Statesmen,  however,  cannot  change  the 
views  of  men  and  women  as  to  what  is  right  and 
wrong,  and  all  the  arguments  in  the  world  could  not 
convince  such  men  as  John  Brown  and  his  friends 
that  one  man  had  a  right  to  the  possession  of  a  fel 
low-creature.  He  struck  his  blow  wildly,  but  its  echo 
rang  in  the  ears  of  the  North,  and  never  ceased  until 
the  Civil  War  was  ended,  and  slavery  wiped  off  the 
continent.  The  great  negro  orator,  Frederick 
Douglass,  said  twenty-two  years  later  at  Harper's 
Ferry,  "  If  John  Brown  did  not  end  the  war  that 
ended  slavery,  he  did,  at  least,  begin  the  war  that 
ended  slavery.  If  we  look  over  the  dates,  places, 
and  men  for  which  this  honor  is  claimed,  we  shall 
find  that  not  Carolina,  but  Virginia,  not  Fort  Sumter, 
but  Harper's  Ferry  and  the  arsenal,  not  Major 
Anderson,  but  John  Brown  began  the  war  that 
ended  American  slavery,  and  made  this  a  free 
republic.  .  .  .  When  John  Brown  stretched  forth 
his  arm  the  sky  was  cleared, — the  armed  hosts  of 
freedom  stood  face  to  face  over  the  chasm  of  a 
broken  Union,  and  the  clash  of  arms  was  at  hand." 

In  the  spring  of  1861  the  Boston  Light  Infantry 
went  to  Fort  Warren  in  Boston  Harbor  to  drill. 
They  formed  a  quartette  to  sing  patriotic  songs, 
and  some  one  wrote  the  verses  that  are  known  as 
"  John  Brown's  Body,"  and  set  them  to  the  music  of 


JOHN  BROWN  AT  HARPER'S  FERRY     253 

an  old  camp-meeting  tune.  Regiment  after  regi 
ment  heard  the  song  and  carried  it  with  them  into 
camp  and  battle.  So  the  spirit  of  the  simple  cru 
sader  went  marching  on  through  the  war,  and  his 
name  was  linked  forever  with  the  cause  of  freedom. 


XII 
AN  ARCTIC  EXPLORER 

WHEN  Columbus  sailed  from  Palos  in  1492  he 
hoped  to  find  a  shorter  route  to  Cathay  or  China 
than  any  that  was  then  known,  and  the  great 
explorers  who  followed  after  him  had  the  same  hope 
of  such  a  discovery  in  their  minds.  When  men 
learned  that  instead  of  finding  a  short  route  to 
China  they  had  come  upon  two  great  continents 
that  shared  the  Western  Ocean,  they  turned  their 
thoughts  to  discovering  what  was  known  as  the 
Northwest  Passage.  They  hoped  to  find  a  way  by 
which  ships  might  sail  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean  north  of  America.  The  great  English 
explorers  in  particular  were  eager  to  find  such  an 
ocean  route,  and  this  search  was  the  real  beginning 
of  the  fur-trading  around  Hudson's  Bay,  the  cod- 
fishing  of  Newfoundland,  and  the  whale-fishing  of 
Baffin  Bay. 

One  sea-captain  after  another  sailed  across  the 
Atlantic,  and  strove  to  find  the  passage  through  the 
Arctic  regions ;  but  the  world  of  snow  and  ice 
defeated  each  of  them.  Some  went  back  to  report 
that  there  was  no  Northwest  Passage,  and  others 


AN  ARCTIC  EXPLORER  255 

were  lost  among  the  ice-floes  and  never  returned. 
Then  in  1845  England  decided  to  send  a  great 
expedition  to  make  another  attempt,  and  put  at  the 
head  of  it  Sir  John  Franklin,  a  brave  captain  who 
had  fought  with  Nelson  and  knew  the  sea  in  all 
its  variety.  He  sailed  from  England  May  26,  1845, 
taking  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  men  in  the  two 
ships  Erebus  and  Terror.  He  carried  enough  pro 
visions  to  last  him  for  three  years.  On  July  26, 
1845,  Franklin's  two  vessels  were  seen  by  the  cap 
tain  of  a  whaler,  moored  to  an  iceberg  in  Baffin 
Bay.  They  were  waiting  for  an  opening  in  the 
middle  of  an  ice-pack,  through  which  they  might 
sail  across  the  bay  and  enter  Lancaster  Sound. 
They  were  never  seen  again,  and  the  question  of 
what  had  happened  to  Sir  John  Franklin's  party 
became  one  of  the  mysteries  of  the  age. 

More  than  twenty  ships,  with  crews  of  nearly 
two  thousand  officers  and  men,  at  a  cost  of  many 
millions  of  dollars,  sought  for  Sir  John  Franklin  in  the 
years  between  1847  and  1853.  One  heroic  explorer 
after  another  sailed  into  the  Arctic,  crossed  the  ice 
floes,  and  searched  for  some  trace  of  the  missing 
men.  But  none  could  be  found,  and  one  after 
another  the  explorers  came  back,  their  only  report 
being  that  the  ice  had  swallowed  all  traces  of  the 
English  captain  and  his  vessels.  At  length  the  last 
of  the  expeditions  sent  out  by  the  English  Govern 
ment  returned,  and  the  world  decided  that  the 
mystery  would  never  be  solved.  But  brave  Lady 


256  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

Franklin,  the  wife  of  Sir  John,  urged  still  other  men 
to  seek  for  news,  and  at  last  explorers  found  that  all 
of  Franklin's  expedition  had  perished  in  their  search 
for  the  Northwest  Passage. 

Arctic  explorers  usually  leave  records  telling  the 
story  of  their  discoveries  at  different  points  along 
the  road  they  follow.  For  a  long  time  after  the 
fate  of  Franklin's  party  was  known,  men  tried 
to  find  records  he  might  have  left  in  cairns,  or 
piles  of  stones  through  the  Arctic  regions.  Whale 
vessels  sometimes  brought  news  of  such  records, 
but  most  of  them  proved  to  be  idle  yarns  told  by 
the  whalers  to  surprise  their  friends  at  home.  One 
of  these  stories  was  that  all  the  missing  records  of 
Sir  John  Franklin  were  to  be  found  in  a  cairn  which 
was  built  near  Repulse  Bay.  This  story  was  told  so 
often  that  people  came  to  believe  it  was  true, 
and  some  young  Americans  set  out  to  make  a 
search  of  King  William  Land  and  try  to  find  the 
cairn.  The  party  sailed  on  the  whaler  Eothen,  and 
five  men  landed  at  Repulse  Bay.  The  leader  was 
Lieutenant  Frederick  Schwatka,  of  the  United 
States  Army.  He  had  three  friends  with  him  named 
Gilder,  Klutschak,  and  Melms,  and  with  them  was 
an  Eskimo,  who  was  known  as  Joe. 

The  young  Americans  set  up  a  winter  camp 
on  Chesterfield  Inlet,  and  tried  to  live  as  much  like 
the  native  Eskimos  as  possible.  During  the  winter 
they  met  many  natives  on  their  hunting-trips,  and 
the  latter  soon  convinced  them  that  they  were  on  a 


AN  ARCTIC  EXPLORER  257 

wild-goose  chase,  and  that  the  story  of  the  cairn 
was  probably  only  a  sailor's  yarn.  Lieutenant 
Schwatka,  however,  was  not  the  sort  of  man  to 
return  home  without  some  results  from  his  trip,  and 
so  he  made  up  his  mind  to  go  into  the  country 
where  Franklin's  party  had  perished,  hoping  that  he 
might  find  some  record  which  would  throw  light 
on  the  earlier  explorer's  travels. 

The  Eskimos  were  a  race  largely  unknown  to 
civilized  men.  White  men  had  seen  much  more 
of  the  native  American  Indians  who  lived  in  more 
temperate  climates.  These  young  Americans  found 
a  great  deal  to  interest  them  during  the  winter 
among  these  strange  people  of  the  far  North. 
Hunting  was  their  chief  pursuit,  and  the  Americans 
found  that  they  spent  much  of  their  time  indoors 
playing  a  game  called  Nu-glew-tar,  which  sharp 
ened  their  quickness  of  eye  and  sureness  of  aim. 
It  was  a  simple  sport ;  a  small  piece  of  bone,  pierced 
with  a  row  of  small  holes,  was  hung  from  the  roof  of 
the  hut  by  a  rope  of  walrus  hide,  and  a  heavy 
weight  was  fastened  to  the  end  of  the  bone  to  keep 
it  from  swinging.  The  Eskimo  players  were  each 
armed  with  a  small  sharp-pointed  stick,  and  each  in 
turn  would  thrust  his  stick  at  the  bone,  trying  to 
pierce  one  of  the  holes.  The  prize  was  won  by 
the  player  who  pierced  the  bone  and  held  it  fast 
with  his  stick. 

As  soon  as  spring  opened  Lieutenant  Schwatka 
started  out,  leaving  his  winter  camp  in  April,  1879, 


258  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

and  crossing  in  as  straight  a  line  as  possible  to 
Montreal  Island,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Black 
River.  He  took  with  him  twelve  Eskimos,  men, 
women,  and  children,  and  dogs  to  pull  the  sledges. 
They  carried  food  for  one  month  only,  intending  to 
hunt  during  the  summer.  Every  night  the  Eskimos 
built  snow  huts,  or  igloos,  in  which  the  party  camped. 
As  they  went  on  they  met  men  of  another  Arctic 
tribe,  the  Ook-joo-liks,  who  wore  shoes  and  gloves 
made  of  musk-ox  skin,  which  was  covered  with 
hair  several  inches  long,  and  made  the  wearers  look 
more  like  bears  than  like  men.  One  of  these  natives 
said  that  he  had  seen  a  ship  that  had  sunk  off 
Adelaide  Peninsula,  and  that  he  and  his  friends 
had  obtained  such  articles  as  spoons,  knives,  and 
plates  from  the  ship.  Lieutenant  Schwatka  thought 
the  ship  was  probably  either  the  Erebiis  or  the  Terror. 
Later  his  party  found  an  old  woman  who  said  that 
when  she  had  been  on  the  southeast  coast  of  King 
William  Land  not  many  years  before  she  had  seen 
ten  white  men  dragging  a  sledge  with  a  boat  on  it. 
Five  of  the  white  men  put  up  a  tent  on  the  shore 
and  five  stayed  with  the  boat.  Some  men  of  the 
woman's  tribe  had  killed  seals  and  given  them  to 
the  white  men  ;  then  the  white  men  had  left,  and 
neither  she  nor  any  of  her  tribe  had  seen  them 
again.  Asking  questions  of  the  Eskimos  he  met, 
Lieutenant  Schwatka  and  his  comrades  gradually 
pieced  together  the  story  of  what  had  happened 
to  Franklin  and  his  men.  But  the  American 


AN  ARCTIC  EXPLORER  259 

was  not  content  with  what  he  had  learned  in 
this  way,  and  he  determined  to  cross  Simpson 
Strait  to  King  William  Land,  and  search  for 
records  there  during  the  summer.  This  meant 
that  he  would  have  to  spend  the  summer  on  this 
bare  and  desolate  island,  as  there  would  be  no 
chance  to  cross  the  strait  until  the  cold  weather  of 
autumn  should  form  new  ice  for  a  bridge. 

The  Eskimos  did  everything  they  could  to  per 
suade  him  not  to  cross  to  the  island.  They  told  him 
that  in  1848  more  than  one  hundred  men  had 
perished  of  starvation  there,  and  added  that  no  one 
could  find  sufficient  food  to  keep  them  through  the 
summer.  Yet  the  fearless  soldier  and  his  friends  in 
sisted  on  making  the  attempt,  and  some  of  the 
Eskimos  were  daring  enough  to  go  with  them. 

It  seemed  doubtful  whether  they  could  even  get 
across  the  strait.  Every  few  steps  some  man  would 
sink  into  the  ice-pack  up  to  his  waist  and  his  legs 
would  dangle  in  slush  without  finding  bottom.  The 
sledges  would  sink  so  that  the  dogs,  flounder 
ing  and  scrambling,  could  not  pull  them.  The  men 
had  to  push  the  dog-teams  along,  and  after  the  first 
day's  travel  they  were  all  so  exhausted  that  they  had 
to  rest  the  whole  of  the  next  day  before  they  could 
start  on  again.  Finally  they  reached  the  opposite 
shore  of  the  strait,  and,  while  the  natives  built  igloos 
and  hunted,  the  Americans  searched  for  records  of 
Franklin's  party.  They  found  enough  traces  to 
prove  that  the  men  who  had  sought  the  Northwest 


260  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

Passage  had  spent  some  time  on  this  desolate  strip 
of  land. 

More  than  once  they  were  in  danger  of  starvation. 
In  the  spring  the  Eskimos  hunted  wild  ducks,  which 
they  found  in  remote  stretches  of  water.  Their  way 
of  hunting  was  to  steal  up  on  a  flock  of  the  birds, 
and,  as  soon  as  the  ducks  took  alarm,  to  rush  toward 
the  largest  bunch  of  them.  The  hunter  then  threw 
his  spear,  made  with  three  barbs  of  different  lengths, 
and  caught  the  duck  on  the  sharp  central  prong. 
The  long  wooden  shaft  of  the  spear  would  keep  the 
duck  floating  on  the  water  until  the  hunter  could 
seize  it.  But  as  summer  drew  on,  and  the  ducks 
migrated,  food  grew  very  scarce.  Once  or  twice 
they  discovered  bears,  which  they  shot,  and  when 
there  was  nothing  else  to  eat  they  lived  on  a  small 
black  berry  that  the  Eskimos  called  parawong,  which 
proved  very  sustaining. 

As  the  white  men  tramped  day  after  day  over  the 
icy  hillocks  their  footwear  wore  out,  and  often  walk 
ing  became  a  torment.  In  telling  of  their  march 
Gilder  said,  "  We  were  either  wading  through  the 
hillside  torrents  or  lakes,  which,  frozen  on  the  bot 
tom,  made  the  footing  exceedingly  treacherous,  or 
else  with  sealskin  boots,  soft  by  constant  wetting, 
painfully  plodding  over  sharp  stones  set  firmly  in  the 
ground  with  the  edges  pointed  up.  Sometimes  as  a 
new  method  of  injury,  stepping  and  slipping  on  flat 
stones,  the  unwary  foot  slid  into  a  crevice  that  seem 
ingly  wrenched  it  from  the  body." 


AN  ARCTIC  EXPLORER  261 

When  they  had  nothing  else  to  eat  the  white  men 
lived  on  the  same  food  as  the  native  hunters.  This 
was  generally  a  tallow  made  from  the  reindeer,  and 
eaten  with  strips  of  reindeer  meat.  A  dish  of  this, 
mixed  with  seal-oil,  was  said  to  look  like  ice-cream 
and  took  the  place  of  that  dessert  with  the  Eskimos. 
Lieutenant  Schwatka  said,  however,  that  instead  of 
tasting  like  ice-cream  it  reminded  him  more  of 
locust,  sawdust  and  wild-honey. 

As  autumn  drew  on  they  made  ready  to  cross  back 
to  the  mainland ;  but  it  took  some  time  for  the  ice  to 
form  on  the  strait.  Gilder  said  of  their  camp  life : 
"  We  eat  quantities  of  reindeer  tallow  with  our  meat, 
probably  about  half  of  our  daily  food.  Breakfast  is 
eaten  raw  and  frozen,  but  we  generally  have  a  warm 
meal  in  the  evening.  Fuel  is  hard  to  obtain  and 
now  consists  of  a  vine-like  moss  called  ik-shoot-ik. 
Reindeer  tallow  is  used  for  a  light.  A  small,  flat 
stone  serves  for  a  candlestick,  on  which  a  lump  of 
tallow  is  placed  close  to  a  piece  of  fibrous  moss 
called  mun-ne,  which  is  used  for  a  wick.  The  melt 
ing  tallow  runs  down  upon  the  stone  and  is  imme 
diately  absorbed  by  the  moss.  This  makes  a  cheer 
ful  and  pleasant  light,  but  is  most  exasperating  to  a 
hungry  man  as  it  smells  exactly  like  frying  meat. 
Eating  such  quantities  of  tallow  is  a  great  benefit  in 
this  climate,  and  we  can  easily  see  the  effects  of  it  in 
the  comfort  with  which  we  meet  the  cold." 

As  soon  as  the  ice  on  the  strait  was  frozen  hard 
enough  the  reindeer  crossed  it,  and  by  the  middle  of 


262  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

October  King  William  Land  was  practically  deserted. 
Then  the  Americans  and  Eskimos  started  back  to 
the  mainland.  Winter  had  now  come,  and  the 
weather  was  intensely  cold,  often  ninety  degrees  be 
low  freezing.  In  December  the  traveling  grew 
worse,  and  food  became  so  scarce  that  they  had  to 
stop  day  after  day  for  hunting.  In  January  a  bliz 
zard  struck  their  camp  and  lasted  thirteen  days  ; 
then  wolves  prowled  about  them  at  night,  and  once 
actually  killed  four  of  their  dogs.  "  A  sealskin  full 
of  blubber,"  said  Gilder,  "  would  have  saved  many 
of  our  dogs ;  but  we  had  none  to  spare  for  them,  as 
we  were  reduced  to  the  point  when  we  had  to  save 
it  exclusively  for  lighting  the  igloos  at  night.  We 
could  not  use  it  to  warm  our  igloos  or  to  cook  with. 
Our  meat  had  to  be  eaten  cold — that  is,  frozen  so 
solid  that  it  had  to  be  sawed  and  then  broken  into 
convenient-sized  lumps,  which  when  first  put  into 
the  mouth  were  like  stones.  Sometimes,  however, 
the  snow  was  beaten  off  the  moss  on  the  hillsides  and 
enough  was  gathered  to  cook  a  meal." 

When  they  were  almost  on  the  point  of  starvation 
a  walrus  was  killed,  and  supplied  them  with  food  to 
last  until  they  got  back  to  the  nearest  Eskimo  vil 
lage.  From  the  coast  they  took  ship  to  the  United 
States.  The  records  they  brought,  with  them  prac 
tically  completed  the  account  of  what  had  happened 
to  Sir  John  Franklin's  ill-fated  expedition.  And  al 
most  equally  important  were  the  new  details  they 
brought  in  regard  to  Eskimo  life,  and  the  proof  they 


AN  ARCTIC  EXPLORER  263 

gave  that  men  of  the  temperate  zone  could  pass  a 
year  in  the  frozen  land  of  the  far  north  if  they  would 
live  as  the  natives  did,  and  adapt  themselves  to  the 
rigors  of  that  climate. 


XIII 
THE  STORY  OF  ALASKA 

IN  the  far  northwestern  corner  of  North  America  is  a 
land  that  has  had  few  stirring  scenes  in  its  history. 
It  is  an  enormous  tract,  close  to  the  Arctic  Sea,  and 
far  from  the  busy  cities  of  the  United  States.  Not 
until  long  after  the  English,  French,  and  Spanish  dis 
coverers  had  explored  the  country  in  the  Temperate 
Zone  did  any  European  find  Alaska.  Even  when  it 
was  found  it  seemed  to  offer  little  but  ice-fields  and 
desolate  prairies,  leading  to  wild  mountain  ranges 
that  did  not  tempt  men  to  settle.  Seal  hunters  came 
and  went,  but  generally  left  the  native  Indians  in 
peace.  Most  of  these  hunters  came  from  Siberia,  for 
the  Russians  were  the  first  owners  of  this  land. 

An  officer  in  the  Russian  Navy  named  Vitus  Ber 
ing  found  the  strait  that  is  called  by  his  name  in 
1728.  Some  years  later  he  was  sent  into  the  Arctic 
Sea  again  by  the  Empress  Anne  of  Russia  to  try  to 
find  the  wonderful  country  that  Vasco  de  Gama  had 
sought.  He  sailed  in  summer,  and  after  weathering 
heavy  storms  finally  reached  Kayak  Island  on  St. 
Elias  Day,  July  17,  1741,  and  named  the  great  moun 
tain  peak  in  honor  of  that  saint.  More  storms  fol- 


THE  STORY  OF  ALASKA  265 

lowed,  and  soon  afterward  the  brave  sailor  was  ship 
wrecked  and  drowned  off  the  Comandorski  Islands. 
His  crew  managed  to  get  back  to  Siberia,  having 
lived  on  the  meat  of  the  seals  they  were  able  to  shoot. 
Russian  traders  saw  the  sealskins  they  brought  home, 
and  sent  out  expeditions  to  obtain  more  furs.  Some 
returned  richly  laden,  but  others  were  lost  in  storms 
and  never  heard  from.  There  was  so  much  danger 
in  the  hunting  that  it  was  not  until  1783  that  Rus 
sian  merchants  actually  established  trading-posts  in 
Alaska.  Then  a  rich  merchant  of  Siberia  named 
Gregory  ShelikofI  built  a  post  on  Kadiak  Island,  and 
took  into  partnership  with  him  a  Russian  named 
Alexander  Baranof.  Baranof  built  a  fort  on  an  island 
named  for  him,  some  three  miles  north  of  the  pres 
ent  city  of  Sitka.  The  two  men  formed  the  Russian 
American  Fur  Company,  and  Baranof  became  its 
manager  in  America. 

One  day  a  seal  hunter  came  to  Baranof  at  his 
fortress,  and  took  from  his  pocket  a  handful  of  nug 
gets  and  scales  of  gold.  He  held  them  out  to  the 
Russian,  and  said  that  he  knew  where  many  more 
like  them  were  to  be  found.  "  Ivan,"  said  Baranof, 
"  I  forbid  you  to  seek  for  any  more.  You  must  not 
say  a  word  about  this,  or  there  will  be  trouble.  If 
the  Americans  or  the  English  know  that  there  is  gold 
in  these  mountains  we  will  be  ruined.  They  will 
rush  in  here  by  the  thousands,  and  crowd  us  to  the 
wall."  Baranof  was  a  fur  merchant,  and  did  not 
want  to  see  miners  flocking  to  his  land,  as  his  com- 


266  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

pany  was  growing  rich  from  the  seals  and  fur-trad 
ing  with  the  natives. 

Little  by  little,  however,  the  news  leaked  out  that 
the  northwestern  country  had  rich  minerals,  and  soon 
the  King  of  Spain  began  to  covet  some  of  that 
wealth  for  himself.  The  Spaniards  claimed  that  they 
owned  all  of  the  country  that  had  not  yet  been 
mapped  out,  and  they  sent  an  exploring  party,  under 
Perez,  to  make  charts  of  the  northwest.  Perez  sailed 
along  the  coast,  and  finding  two  capes,  named  them 
Santa  Margarita  and  Santa  Magdalena,  but  beyond 
that  he  did  little  to  help  the  cause  of  Spain.  Some 
years  later  exploring  parties  were  sent  out  from 
Mexico,  but  they  found  that  the  wild  ice-covered 
country  was  already  claimed  by  the  Russians,  and 
that  the  Czar  had  no  intention  of  giving  it  up. 
Other  nations,  therefore,  soon  ceased  to  claim  it,  and 
the  Russian  hunters  and  traders  were  allowed  to 
enjoy  the  country  in  peace. 

Alexander  Baranof  made  a  great  success  of  the 
trade  in  skins,  but  the  men  who  took  his  place  were 
not  equal  to  him.  The  company  began  to  lose 
money,  and  the  Czar  of  Russia  decided  that  the 
country  was  too  far  away  from  his  capital  to  be  prop 
erly  looked  after.  The  United  States  finally  made 
an  offer  to  buy  the  great  territory  from  the  Czar, 
although  the  government  at  Washington  was  not 
very  anxious  to  make  the  purchase.  The  tract,  large 
as  it  was,  did  not  seem  to  promise  much,  and  it  was 
almost  as  far  from  Washington  as  it  was  from  St. 


THE  STORY  OF  ALASKA  267 

Petersburg.  The  Czar  was  quite  willing  to  sell, 
however,  and  so  the  United  States  bought  the  coun 
try  from  him  in  1867,  paying  him  $7,200,000  for  it. 

On  a  fine  October  afternoon  in  1867  Sitka  Bay  saw 
the  Stars  and  Stripes  flying  from  three  United  States 
war-ships,  while  the  Russian  Eagle  waved  from  the 
flagstaffs  and  houses  in  the  small  town.  On  the 
shore  soldiers  of  the  two  nations  were  drawn  up  in 
front  of  the  old  castle,  and  officers  stood  waiting  at 
the  foot  of  the  flagpole  on  the  parade  ground. 
Then  a  gun  was  fired  from  one  of  the  United  States 
war-ships,  and  instantly  the  Russian  batteries  returned 
the  salute.  A  Russian  officer  lowered  his  country's 
flag  from  the  parade  ground  pole,  and  an  American 
pulled  the  Stars  and  Stripes  to  the  peak.  Guns 
boomed  and  regimental  bands  played,  and  then  the 
Russian  troops  saluted  and  left  the  fortress,  and  the 
territory  became  part  of  the  United  States. 

Up  to  that  time  the  country  had  been  known  as 
Russian  America,  but  now  a  new  name  had  to  be 
found.  Some  suggested  American  Siberia,  and 
others  the  Zero  Islands  ;  but  an  American  statesman, 
Charles  Sumner,  urged  the  name  of  Alaska,  a  na 
tive  word  meaning  "  the  Great  Land,"  and  this  was 
the  name  that  was  finally  adopted. 

It  took  many  years  to  explore  the  western  part  of 
the  United  States,  and  men  who  were  in  search  of 
wealth  in  mines  and  forests  did  not  have  to  go  as  far 
as  Alaska  to  find  it.  That  bleak  country  was  sepa 
rated  from  the  United  States  by  a  long,  stormy  sea 


268  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

voyage  on  the  Pacific,  or  a  tedious  and  difficult  over 
land  journey  through  Canada.  Alaska  might  have 
remained  for  years  as  little  known  as  while  Russia 
owned  it  had  it  not  been  for  a  small  party  of  men  who 
set  out  to  explore  the  Yukon  and  the  Klondike  Rivers. 

On  June  16,  1897,  a  small  ship  called  \h^  Excelsior 
sailed  into  San  Francisco  Harbor,  and  half  an  hour 
after  she  had  landed  at  her  wharf  the  news  was 
spreading  far  and  wide  that  gold  had  been  dis 
covered  in  large  quantities  on  the  Klondike.  Some 
of  the  men  had  gone  out  years  before  ;  some  only  a 
few  months  earlier,  but  they  all  brought  back  for 
tunes.  Not  one  had  left  with  less  than  $5,000  in 
gold,  gathered  in  nuggets  or  flakes,  in  tin  cans, 
canvas  bags,  wooden  boxes,  or  wrapped  up  in  paper. 
The  cry  of  such  sudden  wealth  was  heard  by  many 
adventurers,  and  the  old  days  of  'Forty-Nine  in 
California  began  over  again  when  the  wild  rush 
started  north  to  the  Klondike. 

On  June  iyth  another  ship,  the  Portland,  arrived 
at  Seattle,  with  sixty  more  miners  and  $800,000  in 
gold.  This  was  the  largest  find  of  the  precious 
mineral  that  had  been  made  anywhere  in  the  world, 
and  Seattle  followed  the  example  of  San  Francisco  in 
going  gold-crazy.  Immediately  hundreds  of  people 
took  passage  on  the  outward  bound  steamers,  and 
hundreds  more  were  turned  away  because  of  lack  of 
room.  Ships  set  out  from  all  the  seaports  along  the 
Pacific  coast  of  the  United  States,  and  from  the 
Canadian  ports  of  Victoria  and  Vancouver.  As  in 


THE  STORY  OF  ALASKA  269 

the  old  days  of  1849  men  gave  up  their  business  to 
seek  the  gold  fields,  but  now  they  had  to  travel  to  a 
wilder  and  more  desolate  country  than  California 
had  been. 

There  were  many  ways  of  getting  to  the  Klondike 
country.  Those  who  went  by  ocean  steamer  had  to 
transfer  to  flat-bottomed  boats  to  go  up  the  Yukon 
River.  This  was  the  easiest  route,  but  the  boats 
could  only  be  used  on  the  Yukon  from  June  until 
September,  and  the  great  rush  of  gold-seekers  came 
later  that  autumn.  A  second  route  was  by  the 
Chilkoot  trail,  which  had  been  used  for  many  years 
by  miners  going  into  the  country  of  the  Yukon. 
Over  this  trail  horses  could  be  used  as  far  as  the  foot 
of  the  great  Chilkoot  Pass,  but  from  there  luggage 
had  to  be  carried  by  hand.  Another  trail,  much 
like  this  one,  was  the  White  Pass  trail,  but  it  led 
through  a  less-known  country  than  the  Chilkoot, 
and  was  not  so  popular.  The  Canadian  govern 
ment  laid  out  a  trail  of  its  own,  which  was  called 
"the  Stikeen  route,"  and  which  ran  altogether 
through  Canadian  territory.  Besides  these  there 
were  innumerable  other  roads  through  the  moun 
tains,  and  along  the  rivers  ;  but  the  farther  men  got 
from  the  better  known  trails  the  more  danger  they 
were  in  of  losing  their  way,  or  suffering  from 
hunger  and  hardships. 

Towns  blossomed  along  the  coast  of  Alaska  al 
most  over  night,  but  they  were  strange  looking  vil 
lages.  The  ships  that  landed  at  Skagway  in  the 


270  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

summer  of  1897  found  a  number  of  rough  frame 
houses,  with  three  or  four  larger  than  the  rest  which 
hung  out  hotel  signs.  The  only  government  officer 
lived  in  a  tent  over  which  flew  the  flag  of  the  United 
States.  The  passengers  landed  their  outfits  them 
selves,  for  labor  was  scarce,  and  found  shelter 
wherever  they  could  until  they  might  start  on  the 
trail. 

No  one  seemed  to  know  much  about  the  country 
they  were  going  through,  but  fortunately  most  of 
the  men  were  experienced  woodsmen.  They  loaded 
their  baggage  on  their  packhorses,  and  started  out, 
ready  for  any  sort  of  country  they  might  have  to 
cross.  Sometimes  the  trail  lay  over  miry  ground, 
where  a  false  step  to  the  right  or  left  would  send  the 
horses  or  men  deep  into  the  bog  ;  sometimes  it  led 
up  steep  and  rocky  mountainsides,  where  a  man 
had  to  guard  his  horse's  footing  as  carefully  as  his 
own  ;  and  much  of  the  way  was  in  the  bed  of  an  old 
river,  where  each  step  brought  a  splash  of  mud,  and 
left  the  travelers  at  the  end  of  the  day  spattered 
from  head  to  foot.  The  journey  was  harder  on  the 
horses  than  on  the  men.  The  heavy  packs  they  car 
ried,  and  the  wretched  footing,  caused  them  to  drop 
along  the  road  from  time  to  time,  and  then  the 
travelers  had  to  make  the  best  shift  they  could  with 
their  luggage.  Had  the  men  journeyed  alone,  or  in 
small  companies,  they  would  have  suffered  greatly, 
but  the  Chilkoot  trail  was  filled  with  miners  who 
were  ready  to  help  each  other,  and  to  give  encour- 


THE  STORY  OF  ALASKA  271 

agement  to  any  who  lagged  behind.  At  Dyea  they 
came  to  an  old  Alaskan  settlement,  an  Indian  trad 
ing  post,  where  a  number  of  native  tribes  lived  in 
their  little  wooden  cabins.  These  men  were  the 
Chilkats,  the  Stikeen  Indians,  and  the  Chilkoots, 
short,  heavy  men,  with  heads  and  eyes  more  like 
Mongolians  than  like  American  Indians.  Both  men 
and  women  were  accustomed  to  painting  their  faces 
jet  black  or  chocolate  brown,  in  order  to  protect 
their  eyes  and  skin  from  the  glare  of  the  sunlight  on 
the  snow.  The  traveler  could  here  get  Indians  to 
act  as  guides,  or  if  he  had  lost  his  horses  might  ob 
tain  dogs  and  sleds  to  carry  some  of  his  packs. 

Each  of  the  little  settlements  through  which  the 
travelers  went  boasted  of  a  hotel,  usually  a  frame 
building  with  two  or  three  large  rooms.  Each  day 
meals  were  served  to  three  or  four  hundred  hungry 
travelers  at  rude  board  tables,  and  at  night  the  men 
would  spread  their  blankets  on  the  floor  and  lie 
down  to  sleep.  But  as  the  trail  went  farther  inland 
these  little  settlements  grew  fewer,  and  the  men  had 
to  find  whatever  shelter  they  could.  From  Dyea 
they  pushed  on  through  the  Chilkoot  Pass,  where 
the  cliffs  rose  high  above  them.  The  winds  blew 
cold  from  the  north,  and  the  mists  kept  everything 
wet.  In  the  Pass  some  men  turned  back,  finding 
the  trip  too  difficult.  Those  who  went  on  met  with 
increasing  hardships.  They  came  to  a  place  called 
Sheep  Camp,  where  a  stream  of  water  and  rocks 
from  the  mountain  top  had  swept  down  upon  a 


272  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

town  of  tents  and  carried  them  all  away.  Stories  of 
similar  happenings  at  other  places  were  passed  from 
mouth  to  mouth  along  the  trail.  More  men  turned 
back,  finding  such  accidents  a  good  excuse,  and  only 
the  most  determined  stuck  to  the  road. 

In  time  they  came  to  a  chain  of  lakes  and  rivers. 
The  travelers  stopped  to  build  rude  boats  and  pad 
dles,  and  navigated  them  as  best  they  could.  The 
rivers  were  full  of  rapids,  and  it  was  only  by  a 
miracle  that  the  little  clumsily-built  skiffs  went  danc 
ing  over  the  waters  safely,  and  escaped  the  jutting 
rocks  on  either  bank.  In  the  rivers  there  was  good 
trout  fishing,  and  in  the  wild  country  good  hunting, 
and  Indian  boys  brought  game  to  the  tents  at  night. 
To  the  trees  at  each  stopping-place  papers  were 
fastened,  telling  of  the  marvelous  adventures  of  the 
miners  who  had  just  gone  over  the  trail.  As  they 
neared  Dawson  City  they  found  the  Yukon  River 
more  and  more  covered  with  floating  ice,  and  travel 
by  boat  became  harder.  After  a  time  the  oars,  pad 
dles,  gunwales,  and  all  the  baggage  in  the  boats  was 
encrusted  with  ice,  and  the  boatmen  had  to  make 
their  way  slowly  among  the  floes.  Then  they  came 
to  a  turn  in  the  river,  and  on  the  bank  saw  a  great 
number  of  tents  and  people.  "  How  far  is  it  to  Daw- 
son  ?  "  the  boatman  would  call.  "  This  is  Dawson. 
If  you  don't  look  out  you'll  be  carried  past,"  the  men 
on  shore  answered.  Paddles  were  thrust  into  the 
ice,  and  the  boat  brought  to  shore.  The  trip  from 
Seattle  had  so  far  taken  ninety-two  days. 


THE  STORY  OF  ALASKA  273 

Food  was  scarce  in  Dawson,  and  men  were  urged 
to  leave  as  soon  as  they  could.  Winter  was  now 
setting  in,  and  the  miners  traveled  with  dog  teams 
and  sleds  to  the  place  where  they  meant  to  camp. 
Little  work  could  be  done  in  the  winter,  and  the 
time  was  spent  in  preparing  to  work  the  gold  fields 
in  the  early  spring.  All  through  the  cold  weather 
the  men  talked  of  the  fortunes  waiting  for  them,  and 
when  the  warm  weather  came  they  staked  out  their 
claims  and  set  to  work.  Stories  of  fabulous  finds 
spread  like  wild-fire,  and  those  who  were  not  finding 
gold  rushed  to  the  places  that  were  proving  rich. 
That  summer  many  new  towns  sprang  up,  and  in  a 
few  weeks  the  Bonanza  and  Eldorado  mines  made 
their  owners  rich,  and  all  the  tributaries  of  the  Klon 
dike  River  were  yielding  a  golden  harvest. 

When  men  found  land  that  they  thought  would 
prove  rich  they  made  haste  to  claim  it.  Sometimes 
wild  races  followed,  rivals  trying  to  beat  each  other 
to  the  government  ^offices  at  Dawson  in  order  to 
claim  the  land.  Frequently  after  such  a  wild  race 
the  claim  would  amount  to  nothing,  while  another 
man,  who  had  picked  out  some  place  that  no  one 
wanted,  would  find  a  rich  lode  and  make  a  fortune 
from  it.  Then  there  would  be  great  excitement,  for 
sudden  wealth  usually  went  to  the  miner's  head.  He 
would  go  down  to  Dawson,  and  spend  his  money 
freely,  while  every  one  in  the  town  would  crowd 
around  him  to  share  in  his  good  luck.  One  of  the 
most  successful  was  a  Scotchman,  Alexander  Me- 


274  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

Donald.  At  the  time  of  the  Klondike  strike  he  was 
employed  by  a  company  at  the  town  of  Forty-Mile. 
He  had  a  little  money  and  began  to  buy  separate 
pieces  of  land.  He  could  not  afford  the  rich  ground, 
but  managed  to  purchase  more  than  forty  claims 
through  the  Klondike.  At  the  end  of  that  first  season 
his  fortune  was  said  to  be  $5,000,000,  and  might  well 
have  been  more,  as  all  his  claims  had  not  been  fully 
worked  He  was  called  "  the  King  of  the  Klondike," 
and  pointed  out  to  newcomers  as  an  example  of 
what  men  might  do  in  the  gold  fields. 

That  was  only  the  beginning  of  the  story  of  the 
Alaskan  gold  fields,  and  each  year  brought  news  of 
other  discoveries.  But  the  one  season  of  1897  was 
enough  to  prove  the  great  value  of  Alaska,  and  to 
show  that  the  United  States  had  done  well  to  buy 
that  great  territory  from  the  Czar  of  Russia.  Yet 
gold  is  only  a  small  part  of  its  riches,  and  even 
should  the  fields  of  the  Klondike  yield  no  more  of 
the  precious  mineral,  the  seals,  the  fur  trade,  and  the 
cities  springing  up  along  its  coast  are  worth  much 
more  than  the  $7,0x30,000  paid  for  it.  It  is  still  a 
land  of  adventure,  one  of  the  few  waste  places  that 
beckon  men  to  come  and  find  what  wealth  lies  hid 
den  within  its  borders. 


XIV 

HOW  THE  "  MERRIMAC  "  WAS  SUNK 
IN  SANTIAGO  HARBOR 

IN  the  small  hours  of  the  morning  of  June  3,  1898, 
the  Merrimac,  a  vessel  that  had  once  been  a  collier 
in  the  United  States  Navy,  slipped  away  from  the 
war-ships  of  the  American  fleet  that  lay  off  the  coast 
of  Cuba,  and  headed  toward  the  harbor  of  Santiago. 
The  moon  was  almost  full,  and  there  was  scarcely  a 
cloud  in  the  sky.  To  the  northwest  lay  the  Brook 
lyn,  her  great  mass  almost  white  in  the  reflected 
light.  On  the  northeast  the  Texas  loomed  dark  and 
warlike,  and  farther  away  lay  a  ring  of  other  ships, 
dim  and  ghostly  in  the  distance.  Ahead  was  the 
coast  of  Cuba,  with  an  outline  of  mountains  rising  in 
a  half-circle  beyond  the  harbor.  Five  miles  across 
the  water  Morro  Castle  guarded  the  entrance  to  the 
harbor,  in  which  lay  a  fleet  of  the  Spanish  Admiral 
Cervera. 

To  steer  directly  for  Morro  Castle  would  be  to 
keep  the  Merrimac  full  in  the  moon's  path,  and  to 
avoid  this  she  stood  to  the  eastward  of  the  course, 
and  stole  along  at  a  slow  rate  of  speed.  The  small 
crew  on  board,  a  commander  and  seven  men,  were 
stripped  to  their  underclothes  and  wore  life-preserv- 


276  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

ers  and  revolver-belts.  Each  man  had  taken  his  life 
in  his  hand  when  he  volunteered  for  this  night's  work. 
They  wanted  to  sink  the  Merrimac  at  a  narrow  point 
in  the  harbor,  and  bottle  up  the  Spanish  fleet  beyond 
it. 

As  they  neared  the  great  looming  fortress  of  the 
Morro  it  was  impossible  to  keep  the  ship  hidden  ; 
the  sentries  on  the  castle  must  see  the  dark  object 
now,  and  wonder  what  she  intended.  The  Merrimac 
gave  up  its  oblique  course,  and  steered  straight 
ahead.  The  order  "  Full  speed  1 "  went  from  Lieu 
tenant  Hobson,  a  naval  constructor  in  command,  to 
the  engineer.  Foam  dashed  over  the  bows,  and  the 
long  shape  shot  for  the  harbor  entrance,  regardless 
of  what  the  enemy  might  think  or  do.  Soon  the 
Morro  stood  up  high  above  them,  the  moon  clearly 
revealing  the  great  central  battery  that  crowned  the 
fortress  top. 

The  Spanish  guns  were  only  five  hundred  yards 
away,  and  yet  the  enemy  had  given  no  sign  of  hav 
ing  seen  the  Merrimac.  Then  suddenly  a  light 
flashed  from  near  the  water's  edge  on  the  left  side  of 
the  entrance,  and  a  roar  followed.  The  Merrimac 
did  not  quiver.  The  shot  must  have  fallen  astern. 
Again  there  was  a  flash,  and  this  time  the  crew 
could  hear  the  splash  of  water  as  the  projectile 
struck  back  of  them.  Through  their  night-glasses 
they  saw  a  picket  boat  with  rapid-fire  guns  lying 
close  in  the  shadows  of  the  shore.  Her  guns  had 
probably  been  aimed  at  the  Merrimac1  s  rudder ;  but 


HOW  THE  MERRIMAC  WAS  SUNK       277 

so  far  they  had  missed  their  aim.  With  a  rapid- 
fire  gun  to  reply  the  Merrimac  might  have  demol 
ished  the  other  boat  in  half  a  minute,  but  she  had  no 
such  equipment.  She  would  have  to  pass  within  a 
ship's  length  of  this  picket.  There  was  nothing  to 
do  but  pay  no  heed  to  her  aim  at  the  Merrimad s 
rudder,  and  steer  for  the  high  wall  off  Morro  Castle, 
where  the  deep-water  channel  ran  close  inshore. 
"  A  touch  of  port  helm  ! "  was  the  order.  "  A  touch 
of  port  helm,  sir,"  came  the  answer  ;  and  the  vessel 
stood  toward  the  wall. 

There  came  a  crash  from  the  port  side.  "  The 
western  battery  has  opened  on  us,  sir  ! "  reported  the 
man  on  the  bridge  to  Hobson.  "  Very  well ;  pay  no 
attention  to  it,"  was  the  answer.  The  commander 
knew  he  must  take  the  Merrimac  at  least  another 
ship's  length  forward,  and  wondered  if  the  enemy 
would  give  him  that  much  grace.  A  shot  crossed 
the  bridge,  and  struck.  No  one  was  hurt.  They 
had  almost  reached  the  point  where  they  were 
to  stop.  Another  moment  or  two,  and  over  the 
engine  telegraph  went  the  order,  "  Stop ! "  The 
engineer  obeyed.  The  Merrimac  slowed  off  Morro 
rock. 

A  high  rocket  shot  across  the  channel  entrance. 
From  each  side  came  the  firing  of  batteries.  Hob- 
son  and  his  men  were  too  busy  to  heed  them.  The 
Merrimac,  still  swinging  under  her  own  headway, 
brought  her  bow  within  thirty  feet  of  the  rock  before 
she  righted.  Another  ship's  length,  and  she  would 


278  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

be  at  the  point  where  her  commander  had  planned 
to  take  her ;  then  the  stearing-gear  stopped  work 
ing,  and  she  was  left  at  the  mercy  of  the  current. 

The  ship  must  be  sunk  before  the  current  could 
carry  her  out  of  the  course.  This  was  done  by  ex 
ploding  torpedoes  on  the  outside  of  the  vessel. 
Hobson  gave  the  order,  and  the  first  torpedo  went 
off,  blowing  out  the  collision  bulkhead.  There  was 
no  reply  from  the  second  or  third  torpedoes.  Hob- 
son  crossed  the  bridge,  and  shouted,  "  Fire  all  tor 
pedoes  !  "  In  the  roar  of  the  Spanish  batteries  his 
voice  could  hardly  be  heard. 

Meantime  the  guns  on  the  shores  back  of  the 
harbor  were  pouring  their  shot  at  the  black  target  in 
the  moonlight,  and  the  din  was  terrific.  Word  came 
to  Hobson  that  some  of  the  torpedoes  could  not  be 
fired,  as  their  cells  had  been  broken.  The  order 
was  given  to  fire  the  others,  and  the  fifth  exploded 
promptly,  but  the  remaining  ones  had  been  shattered 
by  Spanish  fire  and  were  useless.  The  commander 
knew  that  under  these  circumstances  it  would  take 
some  time  for  the  Merrimac  to  sink. 

The  important  point  was  to  keep  the  ship  in  the 
center  of  the  harbor ;  but  the  stern-anchor  had  al 
ready  been  cut  away.  Hobson  watched  the  bow 
move"  against  the  shore-line.  There  was  nothing  to 
do  but  wait  and  see  where  the  tide  would  swing 
them. 

The  crew  now  gathered  on  deck.  One  of  them, 
Kelly,  had  been  dazed  by  an  exploding  shell.  When 


HOW  THE  MERRIMAC  WAS  SUNK      279 

he  had  picked  himself  up  he  started  down  the  engine- 
room  hatch,  but  found  the  water  rising.  Then  he 
remembered  the  Merrimads  purpose,  and  tried  to 
reach  the  torpedo  of  which  he  had  charge.  The 
torpedo  was  useless,  and  he  headed  back  to  the 
deck,  climbing  up  on  all  fours.  It  was  a  strange 
sight  to  see  him  stealing  up,  and  Hobson  and  some 
of  the  others  drew  their  revolvers,  thinking  for  the 
moment  that  he  must  be  an  enemy  who  had  boarded 
the  ship.  Fortunately  they  recognized  him  almost 
immediately. 

The  tide  was  bearing  them  to  the  center  of  the 
channel  when  there  came  a  blasting  noise  and  shock. 
A  mine  had  exploded  beneath  them.  "  Lads,  they're 
helping  us  !  "  cried  the  commander.  But  the  mine 
did  not  break  the  deck,  and  the  ship  only  settled  a 
little  lower.  For  a  moment  it  seemed  as  if  the  coal 
might  have  closed  the  breach  made  by  the  explosion, 
but  just  as  the  crew  feared  that  they  were  to  be  car 
ried  past  the  point  chosen  for  sinking  the  current 
from  the  opposite  shore  caught  them,  and  the  Mer- 
rimac  settled  crosswise.  It  was  now  only  a  matter 
of  time  before  she  would  sink  in  the  harbor. 

The  crew  could  now  turn  their  attention  to  them 
selves.  Hobson  said  to  them,  "We  will  remain 
here,  lads,  till  the  moon  sets.  When  it  is  dark  we 
will  go  down  the  after-hatch,  to  the  coal,  where  her 
stern  will  be  left  out  of  water.  We  will  remain  in 
side  all  day,  and  to-night  at  ebb-tide  try  to  make  our 
way  to  the  squadron.  If  the  enemy  comes  on  board, 


280  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

we  will  remain  quiet  until  he  finds  us,  and  will  repel 
him.  If  he  then  turns  artillery  on  the  place  where 
we  are,  we  will  swim  out  to  points  farther  forward." 
He  started  toward  the  bow  to  reconnoiter,  but  was 
persuaded  not  to  expose  himself  to  the  enemy's  fire. 
One  of  the  men  discovered  a  break  in  the  bulwarks 
that  gave  a  good  view,  and  Hobson  stood  there. 
The  moon  was  bright,  though  now  low,  and  the 
muzzles  of  the  Spanish  guns  were  very  near  them. 
The  crew,  however,  remained  safely  hidden  behind 
the  rail.  From  all  sides  came  the  firing,  and  the 
Americans,  lying  full  length  on  the  Merrimac's  deck, 
felt  the  continual  shock  of  projectiles  striking  around 
them.  Some  of  the  crew  suggested  that  they  should 
take  to  the  small  boat,  but  the  commander  knew  that 
this  would  be  certain  destruction,  and  ordered  them 
to  remain.  Presently  a  shot  struck  the  boiler,  and  a 
rush  of  steam  came  up  the  deck  near  where  they  lay, 
A  canteen  was  passed  from  hand  to  hand.  Hobson, 
having  no  pockets,  carried  some  tourniquets  around 
his  left  arm,  and  a  roll  of  antiseptic  lint  in  his  left 
hand,  ready  in  case  any  of  his  crew  were  wounded. 

Looking  through  the  hole  in  the  bulwarks  the 
commander  saw  that  the  Merrimac  was  again  mov 
ing.  Sunk  deep  though  she  was,  the  tide  was 
carrying  her  on,  and  might  bear  her  some  distance. 
There  seemed  to  be  no  way  in  which  they  could 
make  her  sink  where  she  was.  Two  more  mines  ex 
ploded,  but  missed  the  ship,  and  as  she  floated  on  it 
became  evident  that  they  could  not  block  the  channel 


HOW  THE  MERRIMAC  WAS  SUNK      281 

completely.  But  shortly  the  Merrimac  gave  a  lurch 
forward  and  settled  to  the  port  side.  Now  the  Span 
ish  Reina  Mercedes  was  near  at  hand,  and  the 
Pluton  was  coming  close  inboard,  but  their  guns  and 
torpedoes  did  not  hasten  the  sinking  of  the  collier. 
She  plunged  again  and  settled  in  the  channel. 

A  rush  of  water  came  up  the  gangway,  and  the 
crew  were  thrown  against  the  bulwarks,  and  then 
into  the  sea.  The  life-preservers  helped  to  keep 
them  afloat,  but  when  they  looked  for  the  life-boat 
they  found  that  it  had  been  carried  away.  A  cata 
maran  was  the  largest  piece  of  floating  wreckage, 
and  they  swam  to  this.  The  firing  had  now  stopped. 
The  wreckage  began  to  drift  away,  and  the  crew 
were  left  swimming  about  the  catamaran,  apparently 
unseen  by  the  enemy.  The  men  were  ordered  to  cling 
to  this  rude  craft,  their  bodies  in  the  water,  their  heads 
hidden  by  the  boards,  and  to  keep  quiet,  as  Spanish 
boats  were  passing  close  to  them.  All  the  crew  were 
safe,  and  Hobson  expected  that  in  time  some  Spanish 
officers  would  come  out  to  reconnoiter  the  channel. 
He  knew  that  his  men  could  not  swim  against  the 
tide  to  the  harbor  entrance,  and  even  had  they  been 
able  to  do  so  it  would  have  been  too  dangerous  a 
risk,  as  the  banks  were  now  lined  with  soldiers,  and 
the  water  patrolled  by  small  boats.  Their  hope  lay 
in  surrendering  before  they  were  fired  upon. 

The  moon  had  now  nearly  set,  and  the  shadow  of 
the  high  banks  fell  across  the  water.  Boats  rowed 
by  Spanish  sailors  pulled  close  to  the  catamaran ; 


282  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

but  acting  under  orders  from  their  commander  the 
crew  of  the  Merrimac  kept  well  out  of  sight.  The 
sun  rose,  and  a  new  day  came.  Soon  the  crew  could 
see  the  line  of  distant  mountains,  and  the  steep 
slopes  leading  to  Morro  Castle.  A  Spanish  torpedo- 
destroyer  was  heading  up  the  harbor,  and  a  bugle  at 
one  of  the  batteries  could  be  heard  across  the  waters. 
Still  the  Americans  clung  to  the  catamaran,  although 
their  teeth  were  chattering,  and  they  had  to  work 
their  arms  and  legs  to  keep  warm. 

Presently  one  of  the  men  said,  "  A  steam-launch  is 
heading  for  us,  sir ! "  The  commander  looked 
about,  and  saw  a  large  launch,  the  curtains  aft  drawn 
down,  coming  from  around  a  point  of  land  straight 
toward  the  catamaran.  As  it  drew  near  the  launch 
swerved  to  the  left.  When  it  was  about  thirty  yards 
away  Hobson  hailed  it.  The  boat  instantly  stopped 
and  began  to  back,  while  some  riflemen  appeared  on 
the  deck  and  took  position  for  firing.  No  shot  fol 
lowed,  however.  Hobson  called  out  again,  asking 
whether  there  were  any  officers  on  the  boat,  and  add 
ing  that  if  there  were  he  was  ready  to  surrender  him 
self  and  his  American  sailors  as  prisoners  of  war. 
The  curtain  at  the  stern  was  lowered,  a  Spanish 
officer  gave  an  order,  and  the  rifles  dropped.  The 
American  commander  swam  to  the  launch,  and 
climbed  on  board,  being  helped  up  by  the  Spanish 
officer,  who  turned  out  later  to  be  no  other  than  Ad 
miral  Cervera  himself.  Hobson  surrendered  for 
himself  and  his  crew.  The  launch  then  drew  close 


SPANISH   BOATS  PULLED  CLOSE  TO  THEM 


HOW  THE  MERRIMAC  WAS  SUNK       283 

to  the  catamaran,  and  the  sailors  clinging  to  it  were 
pulled  on  board.  Although  the  Spaniards  knew  that 
the  Merrimac *s  men  had  bottled  up  their  war-ships 
in  the  harbor,  they  could  not  help  praising  their 
bravery. 

The  Spanish  launch  took  them  to  the  Reina 
Mercedes.  There  the  men  were  given  dry  clothes 
and  food.  Although  all  were  scratched  and  bruised 
only  one  was  wounded,  and  his  wound,  though 
painful,  was  not  serious.  The  American  offi 
cer  was  invited  to  join  the  Spaniards  at  break 
fast,  and  was  treated  with  as  much  courtesy  as 
if  he  had  been  an  honored  guest.  Afterward  Hob- 
son  wrote  a  note  to  Admiral  Sampson,  who  was 
in  command  of  the  American  fleet.  The  note 
read :  "  Sir :  I  have  the  honor  to  report  that  the 
Merrimac  is  sunk  in  the  channel.  No  loss,  only 
bruises.  We  are  prisoners  of  war,  being  well  cared 
for."  He  asked  that  this  should  be  sent  under  a  flag 
of  truce.  Later  in  the  day  the  Americans  were  taken 
from  the  war-ship  in  a  launch,  and  carried  across  the 
harbor  to  Morro  Castle.  This  course  brought  them 
within  a  short  distance  of  where  the  Merrimac  had 
sunk,  and  as  Hobson  noted  the  position  he  con 
cluded  that  the  plan  had  only  partly  succeeded,  and 
that  the  channel  was  not  completely  blocked. 

Landing  at  a  small  wharf  the  Americans  were 
marched  up  a  steep  hill  that  led  to  the  Morro  from 
the  rear.  The  fortress  stood  out  like  one  of  the 
mediaeval  castles  of  Europe,  commanding  a  wide 


284  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

view  of  sea  and  shore.  The  road  brought  them  to 
the  bridge  that  crossed  the  moat.  They  marched 
under  the  portcullis,  and  entered  a  vaulted  passage. 
The  American  officer  was  shown  into  the  guard 
room,  while  the  crew  were  led  on.  A  few  minutes 
later  Admiral  Cervera  came  into  the  guard-room, 
and  held  out  his  hand  to  Hobson.  The  admiral  said 
that  he  would  have  liked  to  send  the  American's  note 
under  a  flag  of  truce  to  his  fleet,  but  that  this  had 
been  refused  by  the  general  in  command.  He  added, 
however,  that  some  word  should  be  sent  to  inform 
their  friends  of  the  safe  escape  of  the  Merrimads 
men.  Hobson  was  then  led  to  a  cell  in  the  tower  of 
the  castle.  As  the  jailer  stopped  to  unlock  the  door 
Hobson  had  a  view  of  the  sea,  and  made  out  the  line 
of  the  American  battle-ships  moving  in  two  columns. 
He  was  told  to  enter  the  cell,  which  was  a  bare  and 
ill-looking  place,  but  a  few  minutes  later  a  Spanish 
captain  arrived  with  apologies,  saying  that  he 
hoped  soon  to  provide  the  Americans  with  better 
quarters. 

A  little  later  furniture  was  brought  to  the  cell,  and 
food,  cigars,  cigarettes,  and  a  bottle  of  brandy 
provided  for  the  American  officer.  In  fact  he  and 
his  men  fared  as  well  as  the  Spanish  officers  and 
soldiers  themselves.  The  governor  of  the  fortress 
sent  a  note  to  ask  what  he  could  do  to  improve 
Hobson's  comfort.  Officers  of  all  ranks  called  to 
shake  hands  with  him,  and  express  their  admiration 
for  his  courage.  That  first  night  in  the  castle,  after 


HOW  THE  MERRIMAC  WAS  SUNK       285 

the  sentries  had  made  their  rounds,  Hobson  climbed 
up  on  his  cot-bed  and  looked  through  a  small 
window  at  the  top  of  the  cell.  The  full  moon 
showed  a  steep  slope  from  the  fortress  to  the  water, 
then  the  wide  sweep  of  the  harbor,  with  a  picket- 
boat  on  duty  as  it  had  been  the  night  before,  and 
beyond  the  boat  the  great  Spanish  war-ships,  and 
still  farther  off  the  batteries  of  Socapa.  It  was 
hard  to  believe  that  only  twenty-four  hours  before 
the  center  of  that  quiet  moonlit  water  had  been 
ablaze  with  fire  aimed  at  the  small  collier  Hobson 
had  commanded.  As  he  studied  the  situation  he 
decided  that  the  Merrimac  probably  blocked  the 
channel.  The  enemy  would  hesitate  a  long  time 
before  they  would  try  to  take  their  fleet  past  the 
sunken  vessel,  and  that  delay  would  give  Admiral 
Sampson  time  to  gather  his  ships.  Even  if  the 
channel  were  not  entirely  blocked  the  Spanish  ships 
could  only  leave  the  harbor  in  single  line  and  with 
the  most  skilful  steering.  Therefore  he  concluded 
that  his  perilous  expedition  had  been  successful. 

Next  morning  a  Spanish  officer  brought  him 
news  that  a  flag  of  truce  had  been  carried  to  Ad 
miral  Sampson  with  word  of  the  crew's  escape, 
and  that  the  messengers  had  been  given  a  box 
for  Hobson,  and  bags  of  clothes,  some  money,  and 
other  articles  for  him  and  his  crew.  The  men 
now  dressed  again  in  the  uniform  of  American 
marines,  were  treated  as  prisoners  of  war,  and  lived 
almost  as  comfortably  as  their  captors. 


286  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

While  Hobson  was  having  his  coffee  on  the 
morning  of  June  6th,  he  heard  the  whiz  and  crash 
of  an  exploding  shell,  then  another,  and  another, 
and  knew  that  a  general  bombardment  of  the  fort 
ress  had  begun.  He  hastily  examined  the  cell  to 
see  what  protection  it  would  offer  from  bricks  and 
mortar  falling  from  the  walls  and  roof.  At  the 
first  shot  the  sentry  on  guard  had  bolted  the  door 
and  left.  The  American  pulled  the  table  and  wash- 
stand  in  front  of  the  door,  and  stood  the  galvanized 
iron  box  that  had  been  sent  him  against  the  end 
of  the  table ;  this  he  thought  would  catch  splinters 
and  stones  which  would  probably  be  more  dan 
gerous  than  actual  shells.  He  lay  down  under  the 
protection  of  this  cover.  He  knew  that  the  gunners 
of  the  American  fleet  were  good  shots,  and  figured 
that  they  could  easily  demolish  all  that  part  of 
the  Morro  in  which  his  cell  was  situated.  One 
shell  after  another  against  the  walls  of  the  fortress 
made  the  whole  structure  tremble,  and  it  seemed  as 
if  part  of  the  walls  would  be  blown  away.  Fortu 
nately,  however,  the  firing  soon  turned  in  another 
direction,  and  Hobson  could  come  from  his  shelter, 
and,  standing  on  his  cot-bed,  look  through  the 
window  at  the  battle.  Several  times  he  took  shelter 
again  under  the  table,  and  several  times  returned  to 
watch  the  cannonade.  The  shells  screamed  through 
the  air ;  plowed  through  shrubs  and  earthworks ; 
knocked  bricks  and  mortar  from  the  Morro,  and  set 
fire  to  some  of  the  Spanish  ships.  But  no  serious 


HOW  THE  MERRIMAC  WAS  SUNK       287 

damage  was  done,  and  the  bombardment  ended  in  a 
stand-off  between  the  two  sides. 

The  American  officer  had  no  desire  to  pass 
through  such  a  cannonade  again,  and  he  wrote 
to  the  Spanish  governor  to  ask  that  his  crew  and 
himself  be  transferred  to  safer  quarters.  Next  day 
an  officer  arrived  with  orders  to  take  all  the  pris 
oners  to  the  city  of  Santiago.  So  after  a  four 
days'  stay  in  Morro  Castle  the  little  party  set  out  on 
an  inland  march,  guarded  by  some  thirty  Spanish 
soldiers.  It  was  not  far  to  Santiago,  and  there 
the  Americans  were  housed  in  the  regular  army 
barracks.  These  quarters  were  much  better  than 
those  in  the  fortress,  and  the  British  Consul  secured 
many  comforts  and  delicacies  for  the  Americans. 

The  men  of  the  Merrimac  stayed  in  Santiago 
during  the  siege  of  that  city.  On  July  5th  ar 
rangements  were  made  to  exchange  Hobson  and 
his  men.  In  the  afternoon  they  were  blindfolded 
and  guided  out  of  the  city.  Half  a  mile  or  more 
beyond  the  entrenchments  they  were  told  that  they 
might  remove  the  handkerchiefs,  and  found  them 
selves  facing  their  own  troops  on  a  distant  ridge. 
Soon  they  were  being  welcomed  by  their  own  men, 
who  told  them  of  the  recent  victories  won  by 
fleet  and  army.  Not  long  afterward  they  reached 
their  ships,  and  were  received  on  board  the  New 
York  by  the  officers  and  men  who  had  watched 
them  set  out  on  their  dangerous  mission  on  that 
moonlight  night  of  June  3d.  They  gave  a  royal 


288  HISTORIC  ADVENTURES 

welcome  to  the  small  crew  who  had  brought  the 
collier  into  the  very  heart  of  the  Spanish  lines  and 
sunk   her,   taking  their  chances  of   escape.     Th 
were   the   heroes    of    a  desperate   adventure,    frou 
which  every  man  returned  unharmed. 


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